The Lee volleyball earned its first win of the season with a hard-fought five set victory over West Virginia Wesleyan before falling in straight sets to Tampa on Day Two of the Queens Invitational.
Abby Stroh led the Lady Flames with 16 kills as the Lady Flames outlasted West Virginia Wesleyan, 16-14 in the final set. Emma Von Riegen added 11 and Scottie Cook pitched in six slams. Macy Petty had four blocks and Taylor White led the way with 14 digs.
"I truly believe that the first win of every season is a fight to the finish and this match truly showed the grit of our team," said Lee head coach Callie Tabisz.
"Emma V. did an amazing job stepping up today on the pin, giving us great opportunities defensively and producing offensively. She hit .320 against a solid block and gave us two block assists. Also, Taylor White made some huge plays for us defensively and on serve receive which set up some great opportunities for our hitters."
The Lady Flames opened the match with a 25-21 victory. Wesleyan came back to tie things up in the second with a 25-23 win. WVW would make it a 2-1 edge with a 25-18 triumph before Lee forced the fifth set with a 25-18 victory of its own.
"WVWU really pushed us to have to fight for every point. I loved the volleyball grittiness that was on the floor today on both sides of the net," noted Tabisz.
Mya Bajramovic led Wesleyan with 15 kills. Defensively Najla Bray had five blocks and Autumn Molenhouse posted 16 digs.
In the nightcap the Tampa Spartans flexed their muscles and showcased why they won the NCAA D2 National Championship last season.
Tampa rolled to a 25-5 victory in the first set. The Lady Flames regrouped and were much more competitive in the second, falling 25-16. The Spartans closed the match out in straight sets with a 25-14 win in the third.
Stroh finished off an impressive day with 10 more kills and nine digs to lead the Lady Flames. Ashton Middleton set things up with 11 assists.
Mehan Schreck and Jenna Vaske led a balanced scoring attack for the Spartans with six kills each and both hit over .300 while Chelsea Simmons registered 14 assists.
"Whenever you get an opportunity to play the top team in the country, you know you have to be prepared for consistency and all out play. Tampa truly showed why they were number one with their attacks and serving game keeping us on our toes," said Tabisz. "I loved to grit and mentality we had playing Tampa. We never gave up after set one and really settled in and started playing some solid volleyball. We knew they were going to be able to swing aggressive, but I was never disappointed in our effort. We will take what we learned in this match and get better in the gym this week as we face the No. 2 team on Friday in Walker Arena. We hope to see everyone there."
The Lady Flames finished the opening weekend at 1-3 as they head home to host the Lee Invitational on Friday and Saturday in Walker Arena. Lee will face off with No. 2 ranked Washburn and Saint Leo on Friday and Erskine and Trevecca on Saturday.
The Lee volleyball opened up the 2022 season on Friday as it squared off with North Greenville and Wingate on day one of the Queens Invitational.
In the first match of the day the Lady Flames fell, 3-0 to the Crusaders. Lee dropped the first match 25-11, 25-15 and 26-24. In the nightcap Wingate rolled to a 3-0 victory over the Lady Flames, 25-11, 25-10, 25-12.
"We had some incredibly tough matches today against some of the top talent in the country. It was great to see the places we have improved in as a team since last year pay off and other areas of weakness being shown to us as well,” said second-year head coach Callie Tabisz.
Abby Stroh led the Lady Flames with 11 kills and 10 digs against North Greenville. Macy Petty added eight slams and Sophia Lippert tallied six. Ashton Middleton pitched in 12 assists and Clarissa Soza posted 10 assists and seven digs. Abigail Durham led the Crusaders with 13 kills and Ashlyn Connor had 30 assists.
"I thought Macy Petty did an excellent job for us on the right side in the NGU match, really playing tough and moving the ball around the court. Hitting .500 against a solid team is impressive in itself," added Tabisz.
In game two Wingate came out firing on all cylinders and never looked back in handing Lee the straight set defeat. As a team the Bulldogs hit a sizzling .457 and committed just six errors in the match. Maggie Young led a balanced attack for Wingate with eight kills and Shannon Kasprak set things in motion with 28 assists. Petty tallied four kills for Lee and Abby Stroh led the team with nine digs.
"Wingate brought their A game against us and showed us places we can improve in before conference starts up in a few weeks," noted Tabisz. "I am proud of all the underclassmen and upperclassmen keeping composure and continuing to fight regardless of the score. We would love to see that competitive drive step up in future matches, but I'm not worried. I know our preparation and our work ethic on this team will get us to where we want to go come later this year. This is only the beginning and we will rise with unity."