BOCA RATON, Fla. – Coach Christa Fabre knew she would be sending her Lee University volleyball up against some of the best teams in the country, including the defending NCAA DII National Champions (Lynn University). One of the purposes of the visit was to get the Lady Flames prepared for the upcoming Gulf South Conference season which begins on Tuesday when they host Christian Brothers University (6 p.m.).
The final match of the tourney was staged at the de Hoernie Sports & Cultural Center on the campus of Lynn University.
After losing earlier matches to host Palm Beach Atlantic University and Flagler College (5 sets), Lee was beaten by Lynn in the final match of the Hyatt Place Bash at the Beach on Saturday evening, 3-0 (25-15, 25-19, 25-14). The loss dropped the Lady Flames to 4-5 on the year while Lynn improved to 10-0.
Lee only had 24 kills in the contest. Esthefany Rabit had eight slams and a .313 attack percentage while Olivia Reevey added six and a .333 attack mark. Madison Dahl stepped up to deliver 11 assists and Sydney Sharpe dished off five.
Sara Palumbo joined in with two service aces and five digs while Izzy Denton was the dig leader with 11 and Mikayla Buhr picked up five. The Lady Flames had a total of 30 digs against the hard-hitting Fighting Knights.
Lynn finished with 37 kills. The leader was Aline Olegario with nine kills and a .500 attack percentage. Nadia Rossi added seven. The Fighting Knights had a team hitting total of .313. Ula Gorjup set her teammates up with 28 assists and eight digs. Brooke Jackson delivered four aces and also had eight digs. The winners had 36 digs overall.
Coach Christa Fabre's thoughts:
"Competing in this tournament before conference play was great prep. We learned a lot about ourselves and what we will be capable of long term. We have such a talented group of athletes, many of them are young and/or new to our program so this experience was important. I'm hopeful that these matches will keep us hungry and in strong pursuit of the high goals we've set for ourselves this season."
Game 1 – Lee 2, Flagler College 3 (21-25, 25-22, 17-25, 25-19, 9-15)
Bad luck continues to follow the Lee volleyball team when it comes to five-set matches. The Lady Flames have been involved in three five-setters during the early season and have lost all three.
It was the same story on Saturday afternoon against Flagler College in Rubin Arena. Lee played much better than they did during a three-set defeat on Friday night to Palm Beach Atlantic. However, the fifth-set jinx continued to hamper Coach Christa Fabre's team after they forced the extra set by winning the fourth set by a 25-19 margin. The defeat dropped Lee to 4-4 overall.
Payton Danley stood out in the loss for the Lady Flames. The sophomore had 14 kills and a .310 attack percentage. She also went to the net for three blocks. Jasmine Terry added 11 kills and also came away with three blocks as did Reevey.
Sharpe dished off 20 assists and Dahl contributed 13 assists. Denton had 21 digs and Palumbo went to the deck for 15 digs and also added 18 kills. Rabit was the game's block leader with five.
The Saints were led by Gracie Fleming with a masterful 16 kill-effort. She had an outstanding .481 attack mark. Teammate Marley Middlebrooks was right behind with 14 slams while Katherine Rank tallied 12 kills and a .435 attack percentage. Claire Sheedy set her teammates up with 43 assists. Bella Schwantz delivered four key aces and 18 digs.
Coach Christa Fabre's thoughts:
"The way we pursued this match was much better and gave us the opportunity to continue to learn and grow as a team. Flagler is a good team and challenged us in the middle."
