MEMPHIS, Tenn. – With a double-double from freshman Sara Palumbo and solid play from sophomores Naomi Hockless and Carmen Perez, the Lee University volleyball team opened Gulf South Conference play with a 3-0 (25-14, 26-24, 25-23) sweep of host Christian Brothers University on Tuesday evening.

Palumbo finished with 12 kills and 10 digs plus a pair of service aces and a hitting percentage of .345. Hockless made the best of eight kills and a .727 hitting mark. She also had a pair of aces. Perez was steady with five kills, seven digs and joined in with two aces. Izzy Denton joined Palumbo as the dig leader with 10. She also joined four other teammates with a pair of aces. All totaled, the Lady Flames served up eight aces and had only two service errors.

Grace Mazzocca had a solid night with seven kills and a .385 attack mark while Julia Davis joined in with five slams. Berra Soyler and Madison Dahl set their teammates up with 12 assists apiece. Dahl had seven digs and Soyler six.

The Lady Bucs were led by Calah Jackson who totaled 13 kills. Sarah Allyn Thornell was the assist leader with 26 while Tia Rizvi was credited with 15 digs. The Lady Flames had 45 kills and Christian Brothers 39. Lee recorded a .240 hitting percentage and the Bucs .179.

The Lady Flames will return from the short road trip and host the University of Alabama in Huntsville at 6 p.m. on Friday in Walker Arena and then on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. they will host the University of Montevallo.

Coach Christa Fabre's thoughts:
"Always a good thing to start off conference play with a sweep. CBU did not make it easy on us and we can expect that from every team going forward. We put ourselves in some challenging situations and ended up pulling through in both the second and third sets."

"We are looking forward to getting back in the gym to prepare for next weekend."