The Lee volleyball fell to 11th ranked West Florida in straight sets (25-21, 25-19, 25-11) on Saturday afternoon to conclude the Argo Bash. The match was played as a non-conference contest. Lee will return to Pensacola for a Gulf South Conference showdown on Oct. 5th.
Silvia Sartori led the Lady Flames with her sixth straight double-double as she fired home 10 kills to go along with 13 digs. Allie Koepfer also recorded 10 kills while Hanna Matthews set up the Lee offense with 23 assists.
West Florida (8-3) came out firing as they quickly took a 7-1 lead in the opening set. Coach Hudson’s squad was able to cut into the lead eventually pulling within two late in the set at 23-21 thanks to a block by Mary Katherine Givhan and Matthews. The Argos would regroup and take the final two points however to take the advantage.
West Florida’s offense was paced by preseason all-conference hitter Jordyn Poppen with 16 kills. Makila York followed at 13. Brogan Wallin recorded 18 assists while Logan Kael was credited with 13 digs.
“Overall we didn’t have the weekend we planned but we feel have grown as a team during this pre-conference schedule,” said head coach Andrea Hudson. “The win over Harding was great but we stepped backward against Spring Hill. I liked the way we came out against West Florida so I’m hoping we are ready for conference play.”
With the loss Lee falls to 2-8 after facing four top 20 teams during a grueling early portion of the schedule. The Argonauts improve to 8-3.
Lee begins conference play on Tuesday as Coach Hudson and her squad travel to West Georgia to take on the Lady Wolves at 6 p.m. The Lady Flames return home this Friday as they face Valdosta State at 7 p.m. on the sport court at Walker Arena.
The Lee volleyball team settled for a split on day one of the Argo Bash, hosted by West Florida after falling 3-1 in Friday's nightcap to Spring Hill College.
The Lady Flames fired out to a 25-21 openings set victory before Spring Hill seized control of the tightly contest match winning the next three sets (25-21, 25-23, 25-22).
In the fourth and final set the Lady Flames held a 19-15 before giving up four straight points to tie things up at 19. The set would draw even again at 22-22 before Spring Hill rattled off the final three points to claim the victory.
Silvia Sartori stuffed the stat sheet once again with 20 kills and 20 digs and finished the day with 36 kills and 44 digs in two matches. Bailey Kress followed her 15 kill performance against Harding with another 15 kill, 18 dig effort against the Badgers.
Hanna Matthews recorded a career-high 59 assists while MaKayla Beebe, the GSC leader in digs, added 28 more to her season total.
The Badgers Kassanda Fairley and Sarah Senft with 13 kills apiece. The balanced scoring attack also featured 10 slams from Bentley Odom. Emmarose Neibert set things up with 44 assists while Payton Gidney and Cassidi Sterrett had 19 digs each.
Senior Silvia Sartori showcased why she is one of the top outside hitters in the league as she hammered home 16 kills and added a career-high 24 digs to lead the Lee volleyball team past Harding University, 3-1 in the Argo Bash opener from West Florida.
With Sartori carrying the load on the left side, southpaw sophomore Bailey Kress delivered on the right side as she tallied 15 slams, 16 digs while adding three blocks. Middle blocker Alex Reuter added 11 kills on an efficient .345 attack percentage. Hanna Matthews set things up for the Lady Flames with 49 assists.
MaKayla Beebe started the weekend in good shape to win yet another GSC Defensive Player of the Week honor (she's won the award the first two weeks of the season) as she roamed the back line for a match-high 32 digs.
Harding (4-5) jumped out to an early 3-0 lead to start the match but the Lady Flames battled back and took a comfortable 20-14 lead before holding off a late rally in winning the opening set, 25-22.
The Lady Bisons roared back in the second set using an 11-3 run to set up an easy 25-16 victory to even the score at 1-1.
Coach Hudson's squad responded from there however claiming the final two sets, 25-22 and 25-23. Leading 24-23 in the fourth set Sartori fittingly slammed home match point off an assist from Kylee Smith to give the Lady Flames their second win of the season.
Harding was paced by Emily Clayton with 14 kills, followed closely by Zoe Hardin with 13. Rachel Heussner recorded 40 assists while Taylor Eubank was credited with 27 digs and Taylor Lake added 26.