The Lees-McRae College Lady Bobcats volleyball team traveled to
Pennsylvania this week to play in the NCAA Division II Atlantic
Regional. The eight time defending Carolinas-Virginia Athletic
Conference champion Lady Bobcats entered the Atlantic Regional
Tournament as the number seven seed and faced number two seed
California University Pennsylvania, a team that swept the Bobcats
3-0 back on September 3rd early in the season.
This game started out much like the first time these two teams
had played with California taking a 1-0 lead with a convincing
18-30 win. As the Lady Bobcats settled into the game, they battled
hard to close the gap, only to come up short and fall 24-30. As
the Lady Bobcats had done consistently all season long, they
battled back taking game three 30-28. Now that the Lady Bobcats
had found their comfort zone they continued to roll forcing a fifth
and deciding game with 30-21 win. With control of the game's
momentum, the Lady Bobcats would continue their assault, avenging
the early season loss when it counted with a 15-12 win to take the
game 3-2 and move on to the next round. With the upset win over
number two seed California, the Lady Bobcats will now take on
number three seed Edinboro University.
Junior co-captain, and CVAC Tournament MVP, Lacie Smith
(Knoxville, TN) led the Lady Bobcats attack with a match high 22
kills while also contributing defensively with 14 digs. Classmate
Amanda Huffaker (Maryville, TN) added 14 kills and was a force at
the net adding a solo block and six block assists, while sophomore
Caty Honey (Geneva, IL) added 13 kills of her own. The one two
punch of freshman Nicole Burns (Orlando, FL) and CVAC Freshman of
the Year Valia Petrova (Sofia, Bulgaria) propelled the Lady Bobcats
service with 5 and 4 aces respectively, while Petrova also
distributed the ball to her hitters extremely well tallying 54
assists. Senior co-captain Bridget Thornton (Owings Mill, MD) did
all she could to add at least one more game to her collegiate
career by leading the defense with a match high 15 digs while also
contributing offensively with 7 kills.
Much like California, Edinboro will be no stranger to the Lady
Bobcats as they played them to a five game set back on September
30. Unfortunately the Lady Bobcats lost that game 3-2 but will no
doubt bring their A game once more and look to avenge the early
season loss as they did against California; when it counts.
