CLEVELAND, Tenn. - Facing a pair of strong programs on Saturday, Lee Unviersity fell to Embry-Riddle University (Fla.) to open play and then battled an even stronger Quincy University (Ill.) team in the nightcap before tasting defeat. The Lady Flames finished the Lee Invitational with a 1-3 record and will enter Gulf South Conference play on Tuesday, traveling across the state to Memphis to test Christian Brothers University.
Embry-Riddle 3, Lee 0
25-23, 25-19, 25-18
The Eagles came from behind to win the first two sets and then took complete control midway of the third set to hand the Lady Flames their second loss to a Sunshine State Conference team in the tournament.
Embry-Riddle used solid serving and outstanding net play to deny the young Lady Flames an opportunity to post a quality victory. It was Ashley Lunt handling much of the serving when the Eagles made their scoring runs. She finished with five of her team's nine aces.
The visitors had 43 kills and 15 blocks in the match. Jaden McBride led the way with 15 kills and four blocks. Isabella Rujano followed with 10 slams while Dana Gibbons was strong in the middle with eight kills and four blocks. Ashlyn Koerner set up the kills with 20 assists and Lexie Hage had 15 assists and eight digs.
The Lady Flames had a total of 36 kills and were paced by Sara Palumbo with 12 kills and eight digs. Carmen Perez had seven kills and a team leading 12 digs. Payton Danley had six kills. Berra Soyler set her teammates up with 20 assists and Izzy Denton went to the deck for 10 digs. Danley Grace Mazzocca and Naomi Hockless stepped up with two blocks each.
Quincy University 3, Lee 1
25-19, 25-18, 15-25, 25-18
After dropping the first two sets to the powerful Hawks, the Lady Flames regrouped and stunned the visitors from Illinois in the third set. However, Quincy rebounded and captured the fourth set and finished the tournament with a 3-1 record and holds an 11-1 mark. Against the strong competition, Lee was 1-3 in the tourney and stands at 6-6 overall.
Palumbo and Perez had 13 kills apiece in the loss. Perez added four blocks and nine digs. Palumbo finished with a .333 kill percentage and Perez .312. Palumbo was also Lee's block leader with six and contributed eight digs. Julia Davis added seven kills and Mazzocca finished with six. Madison Dahl had 19 assists and Soyler contributed 18. Denton had 18 digs.
The show belonged to Quincy's Emma Wijnbergen. The outside hitter finished her outstanding performance with 23 kills. Susanna Beretti also had a solid effort with 15 kills as the visitors totaled 57 slams for the match and a .304 hitting percentage. Elena Kasavica set her teammates up with 50 assists.
Coach Christa Fabre's thoughts:
"Overall, a tough tournament for us but one our team really needed. I don't know that there could have been a better sequence to prepare us for conference starting this week."
"I was proud to see our team punch back a bit in the third set of our match against Quincy. It was really good to see our team make some adjustments in our blocking and defense, when that has been a struggle for us against the big hitters we have seen.
"This team is coming together in a strong way. We will rest up tomorrow and get back after it on Tuesday vs CBU (Christian Brothers University) on the road!"
