Talented junior Irene Ojukwu
was the leader in Lee's 3-0 (25-17, 25-16, 25-19) SSAC
volleyball victory over Faullkner
University on Thursday evening as the Lady Flames opened a three-match road trip against members from the Gulf side of the conference.
Ojukwu
finished with 13 kills (.391 hitting mark), six big aces and seven digs. As a team the Lady Flames had a hitting percentage of .321 and recorded 11 aces as they improved to 15-6 overall and 7-1 in SSAC
play. The Eagles dropped to 5-10, 1-6.
Paula Martins followed with nine kills (.412 hitting percentage), five digs and two blocks. Nicole Sumida added six kills and Marija
Zelenovic
, fighting back from an ankle injury, notched five kills.
Camil
Martinez totaled 22 assists and Libby Peigen
came away with 15 digs. Faulkner was paced by nine kills from Sarah Ford and 16 assists by Morgan Wilson.
"We are not just playing very well," said assistant coach Kevin Hudson after his fifth-ranked Lady Flames packed up and headed for matches on Friday and Saturday. "We are going up against two solid teams in Loyola (New Orleans) and Belhaven (Jackson
, Miss.) and if we don't play well we are going to be in trouble. Zelenovic
played some tonight, but she is not close to being back to 100 percent.
The match against Loyola is slated for a 7 p.m. start on Friday and the short turnaround on Saturday at Belhaven has a 1 p.m. starting time.