CLEVELAND, Tenn.- Displaying why it is one of the top blocking teams in NCAA DII, the University of Alabama in Huntsville volleyball team dominated play at the net in posting a 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-20) victory over Lee University inside Walker Arena on Friday evening.

With the win, the visiting Chargers improved to 11-1 overall and 2-0 in Gulf South Conference play. The Lady Flames slipped back to even at 7-7, 1-1. Lee will have a short turn around and will host the University of Montevallo on Saturday afternoon (2 p.m.) inside Walker Arena.

The Lady Flames battled back in each set and it seemed like they were climbing up a mountain only to slide back down. Also, it might have been the serving of UAH's Savannah Rutledge who had something to do with the Chargers staying on top. She was serving during each of the visitor's rallies. The Lady Flames would also be their worst enemy at times with service errors.

Rutledge finished with three aces and 19 assists. The Chargers led by Mary Grace Bundrant and Grace-Blythe Cornett combined for nine of their team's 14 blocks and also a total of 13 kills. Caroline Moyer and Autumn Mayes led UAH with nine kills each. All totaled, the visitors had 43 kills to 32 for the Lady Flames.

Lee played without one of its leaders in Naomi Hockless who was injured and will also miss Saturday's game. Carmen Perez battled to take up some of the slack with a double-double, 12 kills and 13 digs. She had a .303 hitting percentage and a pair of blocks.

Peyton Danley countered with seven kills and a .375 attack mark. Sara Palumbo added six kills while Grace Mazzocca stepped up with five kills and a solid .385 hitting percentage. Berra Soyler dished off 27 assists while Izzy Denton had a solid game with 15 digs and five service aces. All totaled, Lee had nine aces while the visitors had seven. Each team had six service errors. The Chargers went to the deck for 57 digs and Lee had 49.

Coach Christa Fabre's thoughts:
"There were some good things from this young group tonight against a strong team. We knew they were a well-rounded team with strong blocking and we had a hard time swinging around it. We knew our middle attack would be successful but they did a good job of getting us out of our system and made it hard for us to get the ball there as often as we wanted."

"I do believe this is a resilient group and that we will come back tomorrow ready to go against Montevallo."