Box score
BANNER ELK, N.C. --- The Lees-McRae College
women's volleyball team celebrated Spike Out Cancer Night in style
on Wednesday night in Conference Carolinas play, sweeping Belmont
Abbey College behind Megan Epperson's (St. John, Ind.) sixth
straight double-double.
Lees-McRae (18-7, 14-0 CC) held the Crusaders (16-8, 9-5 CC) to
a .072 hitting percentage, while also tallying eight blocks en
route to its 27th straight conference victory. The Lady Bobcats won
the match by scores of 25-14, 25-23, and 25-21 to trim their magic
number to two in their quest for the program's 11th league title in
the last 12 seasons.
The Lady Bobcats hosted Spike Out Cancer night in honor of LMC
sophomore Meme Brown's (Boonville, N.C.) heroic battle with ovarian
cancer. Lees-McRae offered T-shirts for sale to benefit the
Outrageous Courageous Kids Foundation, which helps raise money for
cancer research. Brown turned in a superb performance, tallying
three kills on three swings to go with two blocks and two service
aces in just one set.
Epperson paced the Lady Bobcats with 10 kills and 10 digs, while
Taylor Clendenin (Statesville, N.C.) tallied 12 digs and just
missed a double-double with nine kills. Whitney Justice (Connelly
Springs, N.C.) chipped in eight kills, while Dana Oliver (Davie,
Fla.) and Chloe Casas (Plano, Texas) each posted 10 digs. Megan
Mitchell (Minden, Nev.) also posted a match-high 30 assists.
Belmont Abbey's Bria James (Statesville, N.C.) paced the
Crusaders with a match-high 12 kills and a sterling .400 hitting
percentage. Libero Taylor Stern (Greensboro, N.C.) chipped in a
match-high 14 digs, while Lydia and Kay Schellenberg (Jacksonville,
Fla.) each posted five kills. Kay Schellenberg also tallied 23
assists and eight digs, while Lydia Schellenberg and Remick Tiller
(Palm City, Fla.) each chipped in nine digs.
Neither team could gain a significant advantage early in the
first set, until the Lady Bobcats went on a 5-0 spurt to take a
13-7 lead on a Belmont Abbey attack error. Lees-McRae would
continue to dictate the flow of play, stretching the margin to
20-12 on an Epperson kill to cap a 7-5 run. The Lady Bobcats then
closed out the set with a 5-2 run to take an early 1-0 lead in the
match.
Belmont Abbey responded in the second set, tallying six of the
first nine points to open the frame with a 6-3 lead. The Crusaders
would hold the advantage for much of the stanza, stretching the
margin to as much as 17-13 before Lees-McRae answered, launching a
7-2 run to take a 20-19 advantage on back-to-back blocks by
Epperson and Lauren Fox (Garland, Texas). Lees-McRae would push the
margin to 22-20 en route to a 25-23 victory, and a 2-0 lead in the
match.
The Crusaders would start strong in the third set as well,
opening an early 8-6 lead before Lees-McRae responded with six
straight points to take a 12-8 lead on a kill by Justice. Belmont
Abbey rallied, going on a 6-2 spurt to even the score at 14-14.
Lees-McRae would answer with a 4-0 spurt to kick-start a 6-1 run,
reclaiming the lead at 20-15 on a tandem block by Brown and
Epperson. The Abby would cut the margin to two at 23-21 on the
heels of a 6-3 spurt, before LMC tallied the final two points of
the match to push its perfect conference record to 14-0.
Lees-McRae returns to the court on Saturday when the Lady
Bobcats host Coker College in their final home match of the regular
season. The contest is slated to begin at 2 p.m. following the
conclusion of LMC's Senior Day festivities.
- LMC -
