BANNER ELK, N.C. --- Junior Jariliz Cotté set a season-high with 24 kills and freshman Madison Martin matched a season-high with 26 digs while the defense held North Greenville to a .000 clip in three consecutive sets while the Lees-McRae women's volleyball won a five-set thriller in a Conference Carolinas Quarterfinal, 23-25, 25-19, 23-25, 25-19, 15-11 Tuesday evening at Williams Gymnasium in Banner Elk, N.C.
The Bobcats (19-9) put up an incredible rally after falling two sets to one while a quartet of players notched a dozen or more digs. The Crusaders (18-13) was much improved since the Oct. 3 meeting and saw Hannah Lewis amass 26 digs.
LMC advances to its first semifinal since the 2011 season when it claimed the CC title.
The Bobcats dug themselves out of a two-point deficit when junior Jordan Banta (Virginia Beach, Va.) connected on two of her nine kills while freshman Siarra Walker (Winston-Salem, N.C.) earned two block assists in part of a 5-0 run.
NGU responded with a 4-0 run of its own to take an 18-16 lead.
Cotté delivered one of her match-best aces to knot it at 22, but the Crusaders finished off the with a Yomi Adeyeye kill to go up 1-0.
The second set mirrored the first while NGU took an early 12-9 lead forcing an LMC time.
Coach Dave Schmidlin's squad responded with a 5-0 run, fueled by a block from sophomore duo Avalon Liscio (Naples, Fla.) and Haylee Leonard (Winston-Salem, N.C.).
Liscio impressed with a season-high 16 kills. The sophomore tallied two block assists and a pair of kills to spark a 7-0 run, putting LMC up 22-15.
The Bobcats staved off a comeback while Cotté blasted a kill to conclude the second. LMC swung a match-best .250 in the set.
Banta and Walker teamed up for another block while LMC took an early 9-4 lead in the middle frame.
NGU stormed back with a 10-2 run following consecutive kills from Elizabeth James. James had a team-high 24 assists.
The set remained tight, but the Crusaders ripped off a 4-0 run, after trailing 23-21, to claim the third set.
LMC used two Cotté kills and a Liscio ace to take a commanding 21-16 lead in the fourth.
Cotté and Banta combined for four kills while the Bobcats forced the winner-take-all set.
With six ties, the fifth set was entertaining as they come, but LMC used a 7-3 run to break an eight-all tie to advance to the CC Women's Volleyball Final Four.
Junior Allyson Schillinger (Spring Hill, Fla.) dished out a season-high 52 assists while LMC impressed on the front line with 11 total team blocks.
The Bobcats advance to play No. 1 South seed Erskine Friday at 7:30 p.m. LMC handed EC its first conference loss of the season with a five-set victory Friday at Erskine.
The winner will advance to the tournament final to play the winner of Limestone/King (Tenn.).
- LMC -
