The Lee volleyball team went 2-0 on day one of the Lee Invitational from Walker Arena Friday as it defeated Emmanuel College in straight sets (25-19, 25-20, 25-21) in the nightcap.
Earlier in the day the Lady Flames defeated Concord, 3-1 and are now 6-3 on the season. Lee will wrap up the weekend with a 3 p.m. showdown against 10-0 Shepherd University on Saturday.
Senior middle blocker Mary Katherine Givhan stepped up with 11 kills in the match. Freshman Abby Stroh added 11 slams and 17 digs for her second straight double performance.
Hanna Matthews set up her team with 33 assists and added three kills and three blocks.
"When we ran the slide Hanna gave really good sets to me and gave me an opportunity to finish. She told us to just call everything so it would pull their blockers aways and we found some space," said Givhan. "We talked a lot about siding-out right away, once we lost the ball getting it back and Kevin (Hudson) was talking with us about pin hitters and blockers and what we need to do to adjust to what they were doing and we were able to make those adjustments."
Micaela McMichen roamed the back line for 22 digs and added two service aces. As a team the Lady Flames collected 17 aces in the two victories on Friday.
"We talked about not making the same mistakes over and over again. I thought we did a great job tonight of making adjustments after timeouts and the players responded well to the instructions we were giving," said head coach Andrea Hudson, now in her 29th year as leader of the Lee volleyball program. "Mary Katherine played really well up front for us and we were able to find her in rhythm throughout the match. Our other middle Savannah (Chan) really played well on defense and that was a big plus for us."
Mia McKensey led the Lions iwth eight kills while Hallie Richardson followed with six. Stephanie Hardy set up the visitors with 23 assists and pitched in eight digs. The Lions fell to 3-5 on the year after losing to Shepherd and Lee on Friday. Emmanuel will wrap up the invitational on Saturday at 12:15 p.m. against Concord.
LEE 3 CONCORD 1
The Lee Volleyball team opened its invitational with a convincing, 3-1 win over Concord University (W.V.) on Friday afternoon in Walker Arena.
Led by a powerful serve from freshman Abby Stroh the Lady Flames scored seven straight points, including four aces, to open up a 10-1 advantage. Lee would go on to win set one, 25-9.
In set two it was more the same as Lee closed on a 13-5 run to take the commanding 2-0 advantage. The Mountain Lions would not go quietly however as they responded with a 25-15 win in set three thanks to Kirsti Pouncey and Camryn Huber and capitalized on sloppy play from the Lady Flames, who committed six errors and had just nine kills.
Lee would regroup and finish things off in the fourth set, 25-15 to move to 5-3 on the season. Concord falls to 1-6.
Senior southpaw Bailey Kress led the Lady Flames with 16 kills while Stroh added 12 slams, 15 digs and the four aces. Michael McMichen tallied 16 digs and Hanna Matthews dished off 42 assists. Pouncey and Huber led Concord with six kills each and Erin Shannon posted a match-high 27 digs.
Lee hit .208 for the match and delivered a near flawless service game with 11 aces.