CLEVELAND, Tenn. - It took five hard-earned sets, but the Lee University volleyball team handed Mississippi College its first GSC defeat inside Walker Arena on Friday evening. The exciting victory ended a three-game losing streak by the Lady Flames and they will be right back in action on the home court Saturday afternoon against the University of West Alabama at 2 p.m.
The 20-25, 25-20, 25-21, 22-25, 15-10 thriller improved Lee to 2-3 in conference play and 6-8 overall while the Choctaws dropped to 4-1, 7-8. The battle was tied 36 times and there were 18 lead changes. The statistics across the board were almost even. Lee had 59 kills and Mississippi College 58. The Lady Flames had 55 assists and the Choctaws 54. A key stat was Lee's 70 digs to only 53 for the visitors.
It was a record-setting night for Lee sophomore Sara Palumbo. She finished with a season team-high of 20 kills. She delivered 14 digs for a double-double and had a kill percentage of .349. Jordyn Butler also turned in a key performance for the Lady Flames. She tallied 10 kills and a .333 attack mark. Sophia Lippert also had 10 kills while Esthefany Rabit came up with eight timely slams in 13 attempts for a .615 attack mark. She also went high with Butler for four blocks apiece. Jasmine Terry had her best effort of the year with nine kills.
Freshman Sydney Sharpe continued to show improvement as a setter and had 24 assists and tallied a double-double with 10 digs. Berra Soyler dished off 19 assists while Izzy Denton cleaned up the deck with some remarkable saves and finished as the dig leader with 20.
The Lady Flames turned back a big double-double by the Choctaws Mary Grace Foster. She had 15 kills, 22 assists and added eight digs. Holland Williams had 12 kills and three blocks while Meg Paparella delivered eight slams, three aces and nine digs. Reese Regner dished off 21 assists and Felicity Pratt also had three of her team's 13 aces.
Christa Fabre's thoughts:
"Mississippi College is a great team, and I am proud of the way our team competed tonight. The effort is a result of the work they put in this week in practice. Izzy did a phenomenal job in her role, defensively carrying us in pivotal moments. Our setters ran the court and put our hitters in great positions to score. Sara was a key component to our success both at the net and in the back row. Overall, just a solid performance all the way around against a strong opponent."
