BRISTOL, Tenn. --- A trio of Lees-McRae women's volleyball players had at least 17 digs while the team won a five-set thriller, 19-25, 25-23, 25-17, 18-25, 15-13, in front of an electric crowd at Conference Carolina rival King (Tenn.) Tuesday evening at the Student Center in Bristol, Tenn.
The Bobcats (11-7, 6-3 CC) take a ½ game lead over Barton in the North Division with the victory while the junior Jariliz Cotté (Bayamon, Puerto Rico) and freshman Courtney Weathersbee (Raleigh, N.C.) produced double-doubles. The Tornado (11-9, 5-4) lost for only the third time at home this season while Olivia Underwood paced both squads with 46 assists.
Cotté led both teams with 18 kills and amassed 17 digs. Weathersbee impressed with a 39-assist, 18-dig effort.
Consecutive kills from King's Sarah Collins gave the home squad an early 12-8 advantage in the opening set.
LMC responded with an 8-4 run, capped off by a pair of Haylee Leonard (Winston-Salem, N.C.) kills to knot it at 16.
The Tornado concluded the set with a 9-3 run to claim the first set while hitting a match-best .342.
King sprinted out to a 9-4 lead in the second set before LMC responded with a 12-7 run to produce another 16-all tie.
LMC would grab a two point advantage, 19-17, when sophomore Avalon Liscio (Naples, Fla.) notched one of her 12 kills on the evening.
Coach Dave Schmidlin's squad would push the lead to three, 22-19, following a Cotté kill, but the Tornado answered by winning the next two points.
The Bobcats buckled down and won the set after Cotté and Liscio combined for the final three kills.
LMC grabbed a 10-4 lead to open play in the middle set when a trio of Bobcats registered a kill.
LMC saw the lead balloon to nine, 23-14, after Leonard and Liscio notched a block assist and kill each.
Liscio buried two more kills to give LMC the set advantage.
King would rally from an 8-2 deficit in the fourth and eventually grab a 20-16 lead following a Grace Underwood kill.
Despite a Siarra Walker (Winston-Salem, N.C.) kill, the Bobcats fell in the fourth and hit a match-low .000 clip.
The final set proved to be a set for the ages while it saw five ties.
The Tornado would snag a two-point advantage, twice, but LMC answered both times and took a 12-10 lead following a Cotté kill.
Junior Jordan Banta (Virginia Beach, Va.) and Walker stuffed a Summer Kremer shot to put the Bobcats on the brink of victory, 14-11.
King would rally and win the next two points, but LMC's Banta smashed a kill to conclude play.
Liscio registered five block assists while the Bobcat defense held the Tornado to .094 or less in four of the five sets.
The Bobcats return to action Friday, Oct. 17 at 7 p.m. when they host Mount Olive in Williams Gymnasium.
- LMC -
