Lee's Sarah Palumbo.
For the first time since 2019, the Lee University volleyball team is off to a 4-0 start. After winning a pair of games on Friday in the Bobcat Classic hosted by Georgia College, the Lady Flames came back on Saturday and defeated Southern Wesleyan 3-0 (25-15, 25-9, 25-19) and later in the day whipped Georgia College 3-0 (25-22, 25-23, 25-16).
Freshman outside hitter Sara Palumbo and junior right side hitter Sophia Lippert hammered home the kills in Saturday’s sweep. Palumbo finished with 34 kills for the day and Lippert tallied 23.
Sophomore Berra Soyler finished the day with 33 assists and freshman setter Madison Dahl dished off 32.
The Lady Flames also kept their opponents on their toes in the service department with a total of 22 aces. Dahl tallied seven aces and Palumbo five.
In the hard-fought win over Georgia College, Palumbo had 18 slams and a .429 hitting percentage. She had a pair of aces and six digs. Lippert totaled 12 kills and a .381 attack mark. Naomi Hockless joined in with five kills and an even .500 hitting mark. Dahl had 18 assists, three aces and seven digs. Izzy Denton was the dig leader with 15. She also served up three aces. Soyler added 14 assists to the win.
Lee had three with double-digit kills in the romp over Southern Wesleyan. Lippert had 11 kills and an outstanding .846 attack percentage. Julia Davis and Palumbo finished with 10 kills apiece. Soyler set her teammates up with 19 assists. Dahl was solid with 14 assists, four aces and six digs. Denton had eight digs while Palumbo kicked in with three aces and eight digs.
Serving was a key in both wins as the Lady Flames had a total of 22 for the day, 11 in each match. They had only eight service errors against Southern Wesleyan and seven in the win over Georgia College.
The Lady Flames will return home and host a pair of tournament over the next two weekends. Next Friday and Saturday it will be the Flame Invitational and they will face Georgia College again on Friday at 11:30 a.m. and come back against Eckerd College at 7 p.m. On Saturday at 2 p.m. Arkansas Tech will be the opponent followed by Lincoln Memorial University to close out the tournament at 7 p.m.
Coach Christa Fabre’s thoughts:
“Overall it was great weekend for our team and a good start for the season. Our team continues to grow into a resilient and determined group.
“We have some nagging injuries and four matches in two days is not easy, but our team fought through it and players stepped up when we needed them to. We will get some rest and get back at it to prepare for next week. We are ready to play at home!”