BELMONT, N.C. --- Sophomore Haylee Leonard notched 18 kills in a split while the Lees-McRae women's volleyball team fell to Belmont Abbey, 3-0, in a Conference Carolinas tilt before sweeping Fayetteville State in a nonconference battle Saturday afternoon at the Wheeler Center in Belmont, N.C.
Belmont Abbey 3, Lees-McRae 0
The Crusaders (7-12, 6-4 Conference Carolinas) had a quartet of players registered double digit digs while Julie Newell led the way with 22. The Bobcats (10-7, 5-3) had four players with at least five digs in the contest.
LMC took off in the first with a 5-0 spurt to begin action, but BAC responded with a 10-3 run thanks to three consecutive Hannah Schallenberg kills.
The Crusaders' Coreen Norwood collected a trio of kills while extending the lead to 16-10.
Coach Dave Schmidlin's team clawed back into it and shaved the deficit to one, 16-15, thanks to shaky offense from BAC and a Leonard (Winston-Salem, N.C.) block.
Junior Jordan Banta (Virginia Beach, Va.) smashed a kill while BAC held a minimal lead, 22-21.
The Crusaders held on to claim the first set, 25-22 despite hitting .100.
Banta led the Bobcats with seven kills in the contest.
BAC jumped out to an 11-6 lead in the middle set, but a pair of Haleigh Fletcher (Gastonia, N.C.) kills cut the deficit to two, 14-12.
LMC took a one-point lead, 20-19, with a perfectly placed Courtney Weathersbee (Raleigh, N.C.) ace, but the Crusaders closed the set out on a 6-0 run.
BAC led wire-to-wire in the third set while hitting a match-best .263.
Junior Allyson Schillinger (Spring Hill, Fla.) impressed with a 19-assist, 18-dig effort while BAC's Schellenberg led both teams with 15 kills.
Lees-McRae 3, Fayetteville State 0
Leonard paced both teams with 13 kills while freshman Taylor Hicks (Blountville, Tenn.) recorded 10 digs.
The Broncos (11-3) failed to hit better than .144 in any set and Decausha McLean led the match with 14 digs.
Freshman Ana Rodríguez paved the way in the first set with a pair of service aces while LMC ran out to an 11-3 lead.
The advantage would balloon to 10, 21-11, following a kills from Banta and Rodríguez.
Sophomore Avalon Liscio (Naples, Fla.) concluded the first set in style with a service ace.
The second set was a see-saw battle that saw six ties.
The Bobcats climbed out of a 19-16 hole to win the second after Rodríguez, Banta and Leonard recorded a pair of kills each.
FSU took an early 8-5 advantage in the third after six consecutive attack errors.
The Broncos lead would reach five, 18-13, but LMC put together an impressive 6-0 run while a trio of Bobcats notched a kill.
LMC would stave off a Bronco charge to win the final set, 25-21, while hitting a match-best .278.
The Bobcats travel to Bristol, Tenn. to battle King (Tenn.) in a crucial CC showdown at 7 p.m. LMC, King and Barton are all tied for first in the North Division.
- LMC -
