MEMPHIS, Tenn. – With what started out with Lee University playing some of its best volleyball of the year on Tuesday evening, host Christian Brothers University came fighting back inside Canale Arena and turned the GSC contest into a hard-fought four-set match for the Lady Flames. After winning the opener 25-9, the Bucs bounced back to win the second set 25-23 and Lee rallied to win the two final sets 25-23, 25-18.
It was the third straight win for Coach Christa Fabre's team and moved its Gulf South Conference record to 4-3 and an even 8-8 overall. Christian Brothers dropped to 2-4, 7-10. The Lady Flames will remain on the road and will travel to Auburn University Montgomery on Friday for a 3 p.m. first serve.
Christian Brothers used a timeout in the third set after falling behind 11-6 and 15-9. The Bucs quickly tied the contest at 15 and regained the lead at 16-15. From that point on the contest went back and forth. The home team grabbed a 23-21 lead and Coach Fabre ordered a TO. The move worked and the Lady Flames went onto the third-set win.
Set number four saw CBU grab a 12-7 lead, but Lee fought back to grab a 15-14 lead and forced the Bucs into a timeout. The battle was close and appeared to be going in favor of either team until Sara Palumbo and Izzy Denton delivered two key aces apiece to help the Lady Flames pull out the four-set victory.
Lee had a 53-40 advantage in kills. Freshman Jasmine Terry was the leader with 12 and a hitting percentage of .226. Sophia Lippert turned in a solid performance with 10 kills and a .353 while Palumbo had nine kills and eight digs. Esthefany Rabit followed with eight kills.
Berra Soyler and freshman Sydney Sharpe delivered 21 assists each. The Lady Flames had a 50-38 advantage in the assist department. Denton finished with a team-leading 17 digs to go along with her three aces. Lee had 50 digs to 40 for the losers.
Christian Brothers was led by a solid performance from Ella Schumacher. She had 14 kills and a .300 attack mark. She came up with eight digs. Sophia Nowacki added 13 digs while Carleiny Morillo delivered 16 assists.
Coach Christa Fabre's thoughts:
"The first set tonight was some of the cleanest volleyball I've seen from our team. We expected an answer from then in the second and we made too many errors to come out on top. It's a tough midweek road trip and I'm proud of our team for finding a way to come out on top."
