BANNER ELK, N.C. --- Junior Jariliz Cotté chimed in a double-double, including a team-high 17 kills, but the Lees-McRae women's volleyball team suffered a 20-25, 25-18, 19-25, 11-25 setback to Conference Carolinas rival King (Tenn.) Saturday afternoon at Williams Gymnasium in Banner Elk, N.C.
The Tornado (15-9, 8-4 CC) avenged a five-set loss to LMC 10 days ago by hitting .300 or better in two of the four sets. The Bobcats (14-8, 8-4) saw their five-match win streak snapped while freshman Courtney Weathersbee (Raleigh, N.C.) paved the way with 31 assists.
King had a quartet of players with 13 digs each while junior Allyson Schillinger (Spring Hill, Fla.) paced LMC with 16.
Consecutive kills from Cotté and freshman Siarra Walker (Winston-Salem, N.C.) cut a King deficit to four, 12-8, but, the Tornado responded with a 6-4 run to push the lead to 18-12.
A Haylee Leonard (Winston-Salem, N.C.) kill and Tornado attack error made it 19-16.
The Bobcats were unable to complete the rally when King's Summer Kremer delivered one of her match-high 20 kills.
LMC used a 5-0 run to jumpstart the offense while dashing out to a 14-6 lead in the second set.
The Tornado's Lauren Willoughby chimed with a pair of kills to shave the deficit to four, 15-11.
Cotté smashed a kill and service ace while Jordan Banta (Virginia Beach, Va.) recorded one of her seven kills to push the lead to seven, 21-14.
LMC kept King at arms' length and concluded when Leonard delivered a kill.
The third set was a see-saw battle, but King used a 6-2 run, powered by Kremer to eke out to a 19-15 lead.
The Bobcats forced three King attack errors to make it 19-18.
The Tornado finished off the set on a 6-1 run after a trio of players recorded a kill.
King controlled the final set by hitting a match-best .385 and used a 16-5 run to wrap up action.
Coach Dave Schmidlin's squad wraps up its home portion of the season with a nonconference battle against Winston-Salem State Wednesday, Oct. 29 at 7 p.m. in Williams Gymnasium.
- LMC -
