Lee Closes Out FSC/South Region Crossover With Loss

 Playing in the final match of the FSC/South Region Crossover the Lee volleyball team lost in straight sets to Saint Leo University (25-21, 25-22, 25-22) on Saturday evening.

The Lady Flames (7-15) finish the two-day event with a 1-3 mark.

Lee topped Eckerd 3-1 and suffered defeats to No. 1 Tampa, No. 25 Florida Southern and the Lions.

Coach Andrea Hudson's club will get back into conference play on Tuesday when they head to Florence to battle North Alabama. The Lady Flames topped the Lions 3-2 earlier in the year at home. UNA currently sits at 12-6 overall and 9-4 in the GSC.

Sophomore Catherine Conley had her best match of the weekend to lead Lee with 12 kills and two blocks. Brooke Wilsman followed with nine kills and Lauren Williams tallied eight to give her 24 slams in two matches.

Haley Foote rotated into the primary setter role and finished with 24 assists to go along with 10 digs. Stephanie Hernandez continued to pace the back line with 18 digs.

The Lions (15-8) totaled 40 kills on an efficient .323 attack percentage. Lee posted 38 kills but committed 22 attack errors.

Saint Leo was led by Alexa Griffith-Hardy's 12 kills and three blocks. Britt Sederholm added nine slams and 10 digs while Rachel Olliff set things up with 18 assists. Yaidimar Santiago led the defensive effort with a match-high 24 digs.

LU 3, EC 1
Looking to end a six-match losing streak the Lee volleyball team turned to senior captain Lauren Williams to help guide them to a 3-1 (25-21, 26-24, 21-25, 25-23) victory over Eckerd College on Saturday afternoon in the FSC/South Region Crossover.

With the victory the Lady Flames move to 7-14 on the year and 1-2 in the crossover tournament. Lee will look to finish even at 2-2 as they close out play with Saint Leo University tonight at 5 p.m.

After Lee jumped out to a 2-0 advantage the Tritons were Hoping to force a tiebreaking fifth set as they rallied to win set three (25-21) and tie things at 23-23 in the fourth set. The Lady Flames would put the match away however with a kill by Wilsman and a service ace from Williams.

Williams put the team on her back with a season-high 16 kills. The Brooklyn Park, Minn. native leads the club with 157 slams on the year.  Wilsman pitched in 10 slams from her outside hitter position while senior Patty Orozco had nine kills and a pair of blocks.

Freshman setter Sadie Johnson continued her solid play with a match-high 29 assists and added seven digs. Stephanie Hernandez and Latrice Johnson anchored the defense with 17 and 12 digs respectively.

Tjasa Kotnik led the attack for Eckerd with 14 kills. Ali McAlvany followed with 12 and Nelson pitched in 11. Emily Schadow set things up with 28 assists while Gabrielle Guimares added 25. Kaitlyn Sibson led all players with 20 digs.

LU 0, FSC 3
Lee was upended by No. 25 Florida Southern, 3-0 (25-21, 25-16, 25-22) in the nightcap of day one of the South Region Crossover.

The Lady Flames fall to 6-14 on the year after losing earlier in the day to top-ranked Tampa in straight-sets. Lee will look to break into the win column on Saturday as they play Eckerd College at 1 p.m. and finish up the tourney with Saint Leo (5 p.m.).

The Mocs (15-4) moved to 2-0 after scoring an impressive straight-set victory over No. 22 West Florida earlier in the day. The host-school has won eight straight matches and 11 of 12 overall.

Latrice Johnson led the way early for the Lady Flames. The outside hitter tallied six slams in set one but  ended with just seven in the contest. Johnson would also record two aces.Williams and Wilsman followed with five kills each while Catherine Conley added four.

Lee had two players register double-figures in digs.  Hernandez added to her team-leading total with 20. Haley Foote recorded a double-double with 14 assists to go along with 10 digs.

Rachel Mostert paced the Florida Southern attack with 11 kills. Kendall Marotti followed with nine. Ali Skayhan pitched in a double-double effort with 38 assists and 14 digs.

LU 0, UT 3
The Lady Flames drew a difficult assignment to kick off the South Region Crossover as they lost 3-0 (25-15, 25-19, 25-19) to the No. 1-ranked University of Tampa Spartanson Friday afternoon.

The two-day event features teams from the Gulf South Conference battling the Sunshine State Conference. The tournament is hosted by Florida Southern College.

The Spartans (16-1) wasted little time showing why they have the top-ranking in NCAA Division II as they opened up an 11-4 advantage on the Lady Flames in the opening set.

Lee would cut the deficit to six at one point in the set but couldn't draw any closer as Tampa held on for  25-15 victory.

The Lady Flames bounced back and forth with the Spartans in set two. Lee rattled off three straight points to pull within one at 17-16 but would draw no closer as Tampa closed on a 8-3 run to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the match.

Set three was more of the same as Lee fell by the same margin of 25-19. The Lady Flames are now 6-13 on the season but have faced a daunting schedule of late. The combined record of Lee's last five opponents is a sizzling 83-11.

Senior Lauren Williams led the attack for coach Andrea Hudson with 12 kills. Johnson and  Wilsman followed with five slams apiece. Sadie Johnson set things up with 16 assists while Hernandez tallied 10 digs.

The Spartans got 11 kills from Megan Heffron and eight slams from Berkely Whaley to pace the offense. Kahley Patrick set up the heavy hitters as she registered 33 assists to go along with eight digs in the contest.