Led by sophomore Bailey Kress the Lee volleyball team fired past rival Shorter in straight sets (25-14, 25-14, 25-16) on Tuesday night in front of a large and vocal crowd at Walker Arena.
"When we talk in the locker room we are talking less about the opponent as to where we want to be and where we want to be right now," said Head Coach Andrea Hudson.
Kress played an all-around game for the Lady Flames as she recorded her fifth double-double of the year with 10 kills and 10 digs.
The sophomore right side hitter also paced the Lee service game recording four of the teams 10 aces in the match.
"In the locker room today in our team devotion we talked about going out on the court and having confidence and representing Christ in everything that you do. I just tried to keep that mindset throughout the entire game, and it worked out," said Kress.
Allie Koepfer recorded three of her own aces while also leading the team in blocks with four. Matching Koepfer, Alex Reuter recorded four blocks to go along with seven kills. Silvia Sartori added seven kills on the night. Hanna Matthews posted 28 assists while MaKayla Beebe led all athletes with 19 digs.
Lee jumped out to an early lead 7-2 and later used a 5-0 run to stretch the advantage to 17-8 before taking the set, 25-14 on a Kress ace.
Coach Hudson's squad hit a blazing .313 attacking percentage throughout the night including only one error in the fourth set with 14 kills and a match high .406 hitting percentage. Lee committed only seven errors the whole match.
"We weren't happy with our performance on Saturday (against West Alabama) so we want to come out today, back in front of our home fans and get back on track," said Hudson. "The crowd was great tonight and definitely gave us a lift. We face some similar type crowds on the road so it's nice to have fans cheering for you and I think our players really feed off the energy."
Shorter was paced by Paris Buckner and Allicia McClellan with seven kills each. Kendall Vondra set 11 assists while Tinsley Fain recorded 10. Fain recorded a double-double with 12 digs to go with her assists while Emily Wilson dug 11 attacks.
The Lady Flames improve to 11-12 overall and 9-3 in league play with the victory. The loss drops Shorter to 9-11 and 5-7 in the GSC.
Lee jumps out of conference play to take on the South Region Crossover field. Lee faces three tough teams from the Sunshine State Conference in Nova Southeastern, sixth -ranked Tampa, and Saint Leo University over the weekend in Orlando, Fla. The Lady Flames open with Nova Southeastern on Friday at 7 p.m. before battling Tampa (12:15 p.m.) and Saint Leo (7 p.m.) on Saturday.