CLEVELAND, Tenn. - The Lee University volleyball team split a pair of matches on Saturday, defeating Emory & Henry University (Va.) 3-0 and falling to Thomas More University (Ky.) 3-2 inside Walker Arena.
Game 1 - Lee 3, Emory & Henry University 0 (25-11, 25-14, 25-15)
The Lady Flames improved to 4-0 in the opener with a convincing victory while the Wasps who fell to 1-4. Lee Coach Christa Fabre cleared her bench often in the three-set win. Jasmine Terry, Payton Danley and Jordyn Butler had 11 kills each for the Lady Flames. Butler had a .500 kill percentage and Terry a .417. Butler chipped in with nine digs.
Middle-blocker Esthefany Rabit delighted the crowd with five slams and a .500 attack mark. She added five digs and a pair of blocks. On one of the digs, Rabit went to the deck and kept the ball alive with a one-handed tip.
Lee had three different players dishing off assists. Berra Soyler and Madison Dahl had 12 apiece. Soyler delivered a pair of aces. Sydney Sharpe contributed 11 assists and a pair of aces. Naomi Hockless got on the ace's leader board with two as the Lady
Flames finished with eight winners in the match. Izzy Denton had 12 digs and Hockless had five to go along with her two blocks.
Game 2 – Thomas More University 3, Lee 2 (20-25, 25-18, 13-25, 25-23, 15-10)
The emotional Saints delivered 19 service aces in its win over the Lady Flames. Taylor Stivers had seven of the aces for the winner and four came in the deciding final set. Looking at the overall stats Lee had 61 kills to 46 for the visitors. They had 59 assists to 42 for the Saints. The Lady Flames also had 76 digs to just 55 for the Kentucky squad.
Ebony Gomez was a key at the net for Thomas More. The senior delivered 20 kills while Matilde Giamverini contributed 10. Aubrey Warwick also was a factor in the victory when she handed out 36 assists.
The Lady Flames were led by Danley who had 16 kills and a .400 attack percentage. Sophia Lippert and Butler had 10 slams apiece. Overall, Lee had a .288 kill mark while the visitors won with a .152 percentage.
Soyler and Sharpe had 16 assists each while Dahl contributed 15. Denton went to the deck for 24 digs and also had two service aces. Sarah Palumbo was in double-digits with 11 digs and a pair of aces while contributing seven kills. Rabit tallied eight blocks.
Overall, the Lady Flames had 17 blocks to 12 for the Saints.
Lee returns to action on Tuesday, hosting Carson-Newman University in a 6 p.m. non-conference match. They will on Thursday for three games in Palm Beach, Florida and will face the defending national champions next Saturday.
Coach Christa Fabre's Thoughts:
"It was good to get all the players in. We have a lot of good depth and talent this season. We are still working on lineups and what is best for this group. We know we have had to improve our serve receive and maybe today will inspire us to help get it fixed"
