The Lee volleyball team swept Union University (25-16, 25-17, 25-21) on Saturday afternoon to remain perfect on the weekend behind Silvia Sartori's 10thdouble-double of the year with 17 kills and 11 digs.
Coming off a sweep of Christian Brothers on Friday the Lady Flames have now won six straight GSC sets.
Defensively, MaKayla Beebe led the way with 20 digs while Allie Koepfer dug 15 attacks by the opposition. Hanna Matthews provided the important second touch recording 38 assists in the match for the Lady Flames.
"Hanna has just been phenomenal for us," said head Coach Andrea Hudson of the junior setter, who has recorded 566 assists to date.
In the first set Lee jumped out to a quick 8-3 lead and Union could not recover.
The Lady Bulldogs trailed 22-16 before Lee used a three-point run to win the set. Alex Reuter and Sartori provided kills before Koepfer ended the set with an ace. Coach Hudson's squad hit .378 committing only two errors in the opener while recording 16 kills.
The Lady Flames use an 18-5 run in the second set to break open a close match and take a 2-0 lead with 25-17 victory. Lee hit .342 as a team with 17 kills and only four errors on 38 attempts to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the match.
The third set saw a much more competitive contest with five ties and 3 of 5 lead changes. Lee forced the Lady Bulldogs to use an early timeout after going on a 5-0 run to take a 7-4 lead. Union would not go away quietly tying it back up at 12 on a block by Grace Roberts and Meghan Delaney, and again at 16 all on a kill by Christa Karns. The Jackson, Tenn. club pulled within one at 22-21 before match ended on a three-point run by the Lady Flames with a kill by Koepfer and two miscues by the visiting school.
The Union offense was paced by Haley Ramsey with 11 kills. Rebecca Sexton recorded 27 assists, while Abbie Rahn dug 14 attacks.
Lee improves to 8-9 overall and 6-1 in GSC meetings for a share of first place. Union drops to 4-16 overall and 1-6 in GSC Play.
When asked about her team’s hot start in conference play Hudson said, "It feels great. I couldn't have anticipated where we would be right now, but I do know that I love playing Emory, and Emory is No. 7 now in Division III and won a national championship a couple of years ago. They have some phenomenal athletes and is exactly who we need to play right now."
The Lady Flames will take on Emory on Wednesday with first serve starting at 7 p.m. in Walker Arena.
Coach Hudson and her squad then jump right back into GSC action traveling to 15th ranked West Florida down in Pensacola at 5 p.m. on Friday before traveling to GSC newcomer Auburn Montgomery for a Saturday afternoon match beginning at 2 p.m.