CLEVELAND, Tenn.- In what will go down as one of the most exciting volleyball matches to be staged inside Walker Arena in several years, Lee University battled visiting Valdosta State University for five sets on Saturday afternoon before winning 3-2 (25-21, 17-25, 25-20, 31-29, 15-13). The thrilling victory improved the Lady Flames GSC record to 6-4 and 12-10 overall. The Blazers dropped to 4-4, 10-8.
The fourth set was tied 16 times before Lee finally pulled out the 31-29 win and forced the fifth set. Overall, the battle lasted two hours and 45 minutes and both head coaches used all their allotted timeouts.
The tightly and evenly contested affair saw Lee finish with 62 kills and Valdosta 60. The Blazers had 90 digs and the Lady Flames a season-high 87 digs. Lee had 22 blocks and the visitors 20. The service errors were also almost evenly divided with Valdosta having 10 and Lee nine. To take it a step further, the Lady Flames had 58 assists to 56 for the Blazers.
Sara Palumbo set the pace for Lee. The freshman finished with 13 kills and went to the deck for 24 digs. Freshman teammate Payton Danley turned in a solid effort with 15 kills and six blocks. Sophomore Carmen Perez matched Palumbo's double-digit effort with 14 slams and 20 digs.
Naomi Hockless produced the winning point in the fifth set and hit .500 for the day with nine kills in 16 attacks and one error. She added seven digs and a couple of blocks. Grace Mazzocca had likely her best effort of the season with eight kills in 20 attempts .350 attack mark. She also had a team-high nine blocks.
In the assist department, Berra Soyler dished off 30 and Madison Dahl contributed 19. Dahl's 12 digs gave her a double-double. Izzy Denton joined in with three aces and 12 digs.
The Blazers made things extremely tight with a double-double from Jojo Smith with 15 kills, 16 digs and four blocks, but it was Christina Pettigrew who helped keep Valdosta State in the hunt over the last three sets. She tallied a team-high 19 kills and registered four blocks. Audrey Bennett dished off 25 assists and Avery Mullins joined Smith with a double-double with 22 assists and 11 digs.
The Lady Flames will wrap up their five-game home stand on Tuesday when they will entertain Christian Brothers University in a GSC contest slated for a 6 p.m. start.
Coach Christa Fabre's Thoughts:
"We have seen this team progress considering how young they are. We have been in almost every scenario now. We have been up and let it slip and experience the pain of that and now to rally and get a win. I am extremely thankful for those because it has give the confidence to play free when it matters. we high execution to when it matters and I am so proud of our team."
"You want to see a strong team effort especially going into the second half of conference play. There were so many moments today that if one person doesn't do their part the outcome may be different. So just a great experience for everyone out there on the court."
