MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Lee University volleyball team survived an upset bid by the Auburn University Montgomery Warhawks on Saturday afternoon. The 2-10 AUM took the 6-3 Flames to five sets. Jordyn Butler led Lee with 23 kills as the Flames had a season high 65 kills and 63 assists.
In the first set, Lee stormed out of the gate and built the lead out to 18-11. However, AUM refused to go away and brought it all the way back and won the set 28-26.
Lee responded in the second set and snuck away with a 25-23 win. The third set was all Lee as the Flames ran away at 25-12. However, AUM refused to go away again and won set four 25-21. In the fifth set the Flames jumped out to a 5-1 lead and hung on to win 15-8.
The serve was a big factor in the contest. Lee had nine services aces while committing 13 errors. Meanwhile, AUM had eight aces and seven errors. The Flames outhit AUM by a decent margin. AUM hit .200 on the day while Lee was at .342.
Butler led with 23 kills while hitting .571 on the day. Sophia Lippert added a double-double with 12 kills and 14 digs. Payton Danley had 12 kills while Esthefany Rabit had 10. Berra Soyler had 35 assists in the win.
Lee will return home for a five game homestand. The Flames will host the University of Montevallo on Tuesday, September 22.
Coach Christa Fabre's Thoughts:
"Our win against AUM today wasn't quite what we wanted it to be. We had the lead in the first set and let it slip away, then got off to a very slow start in the fourth. Overall, we lacked focus, were slow to make adjustments to AUM's fast offense, and didn't do a great job of playing clean on our side of the net.
That being said, a few players stepped up with strong performances to help us pull out an ugly win, and at the top of that list was Jordyn Butler. She has been an offensive force for us to start the season, and she came through for us again today when we needed it! We'll take the win, learn from it, and get back to work."
