North Alabama displayed why it was the champions of the Gulf South Conference (GSC) last season. The Lion, who Lee coach Andrea Hudson described as “a mature team” came battling back after the Lady Flames dominated the first two sets to claim a 3-2 (22-25, 14-25, 25-17, 25-14, 15-12) victory on Saturday afternoon in Walker Arena.
“We were prepared in what we knew that they did from a strategic standpoint and that helped us in winning the first two sets, but in the third and fourth sets they changed some things up and we just didn’t adjust.
They really regrouped after they had a tough five-set match last night at Shorter.”
It was bombs away from Lee’s Silvia Sartori, Brooke Wilsman and Catherine Conley, especially in the first two sets. But two of the GSC’s top players, Natasha Fomina and Jessica Austin came alive in the next two sets and again in the short period to spark the comeback.
Sartori was the kill leader in the match with 17 bombs. Wilsman and Conley had eight apiece and Blaire Beamer added seven kills. Formina had 15 kills for the winners and Austin followed with 13. Jayden Davila-McClary, last week’s GSC Player of the Week, helped the strong net play with 40 assists.
Lee’s frontcourt looked unbeaten in the first two sets and It shows on the charts with Conley timing seven blocks and Carly Callahan five. Crystal Dedes contributed five kills and three blocks.
“Carly and Catherine came through strong for us today at the net,” pointed out Hudson. “Carly adjusted well on her block today and she stepped up and had a couple of one-on-one blocks. We knew if we could feed the ball to “Cat” today we would be able to run some offense.”
Sadie Johnson had 23 assists in the loss and Kristi Farley dished off 22. “Late in the game our passing wasn’t like it was early on, but credit North Alabama, they really started serving well.”
In the digs department Makayla Beebe had 19 and Wilsman totaled 11. Sartori added another double-double to her two-year growing total with 13 digs to go along with her kills.
“I was really proud of energy and effort though throughout the match,” concluded the Lee coach. “Now we have to get ready for a long road trip this week.” The Lady Flames will be on the road for four GSC matches before returning home to host West Alabama on Oct. 1
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