The Lee volleyball team fell to West Alabama in straight sets (28-26, 25-12, 25-20) on Saturday afternoon from Walker Arena in a battle of two of the top teams in the Gulf South Conference.
Junior middle blocker Alex Reuter had a strong showing for the Lady Flames (10-12, 8-3 GSC) with 14 kills. Silvia Sartori recorded 11 slams. Hanna Matthews led the field with 33 assists while MaKayla Beebe recorded 17 digs, followed by Allie Koepfer with 14.
Set one saw a see-saw of a game before West Alabama (17-5, 10-2 GSC) was finally able to take the first set 28-26 on back to back kills.
The Tigers then used that momentum throughout the match.
Taking set two 25-12 and committing only one error in second frame before taking set three 25-20.
"We know what they do, and we had studied them a lot, and they really have a complex offense and how they run things and we really felt like we were prepared for it," said Head Coach Andrea Hudson. "As you prepare for the other team you have to remember, and you have to take care of your side. We had unforced errors at crucial times and when you play these tough teams you just can't do that," concluded the 28th year head coach.
Taylor Donato paced the Tiger offense with 14 kills on the day. Kassie Till recorded 32 assists while Jessica Akiona had 19 digs, followed closely by Alex Fuelling with 17.
"Every opponent we face we have to take care of and we have a tough conference schedule left. Not only do we have Shorter, we have UAH [Alabama Huntsville], we also have Montevallo coming here. We told them to just step back and we have to take it one match at a time. Where we are sitting in the conference is a great place to be but it also puts us playing some very tough competition in the crossover," concluded Hudson.
Lee will be back in action on Tuesday as the Lady Flames welcome GSC rival Shorter to the sport court in Walker Arena at 7 p.m. Coach Hudson and her squad then travel to Orlando, Fla. to take on the field in the South Region Crossover pitting teams from the GSC and the Sunshine State Conference on Friday and Saturday.
FRIDAY – Lee 3, Miss. College 1
After dropping the opening set the Lee volleyball team came firing back and won the match over Mississippi College, 3-1 (17-25, 25-17, 25-21, 25-15) on Friday evening in Walker Arena.
Silvia Sartori recorded her 13th double-double of the year with 29 kills and 12 digs. Hanna Matthews led the field with 52 assists while Allie Koepfer and MaKayla Beebe was all over the floor recording 22 digs each.
"I think it was the unexpected of how good Mississippi College really is. Their record doesn't show it but they are a very tough team and they are not the same team that they were before," said Head Coach Andrea Hudson. "They got some really good athletes out there and we tried to prepare our players for it."
In the third set Lee jumped out to a quick 7-2 lead forcing a Choctaw timeout. MC responded taking the lead 10-8 before the Lady Flames used a nine-point run off four kills from Sartori and one apiece from Alex Reuter and Matthews. Reuter would end set three with a slam 25-21.
With the score tied at 9 in the fourth the Lady Flames rattled off nine straight points to take an 18-9 lead and effectively put the match out of reach. Sartori put the exclamation point on the evening with her 29th kill to end the set and the match at 25-15.
Lexie Laurendine recorded a double-double with 13 kills and 12 assists to lead the Mississippi College squad. Rylee Markham was credited with 17 assits while Jill Brown led the defense with 20 kills. Kendall Platt was right on Brown's heels with 19 digs.
When asked about the tough match tomorrow against West Alabama coach Hudson had some keys, "First of all is to rest up. Because they [MC] were so good defensively they really taxed us having to play long rallies."So I told the girls to get their ice baths, get some food in them, get some rest, get a good breakfast tomorrow and I think the competitiveness of playing West Alabama will generate a lot of energy tomorrow,"