DUE WEST, S.C. --- Junior Jariliz Cotté and sophomore Avalon Liscio cranked out 11 kills each, but the Lees-McRae women's volleyball team saw its season end to Erskine, 22-25, 18-25, 22-25 in a Conference Carolinas Semifinal Friday night at Belk Arena in Due West, S.C.
The Flying Fleet (20-8) clipped the 20-win plateau while advancing to the tournament title match against King (Tenn.) Saturday. The Bobcats (19-10) went from two wins in the 2013 season to 19 this year.
Madison Martin (Goldsboro, N.C.) wrapped up an impressive freshman campaign with a match-high 17 digs.
A pair of Liscio (Naples, Fla.) kills sparked an LMC 9-2 run to open play and hushed a raucous EC crowd.
The Flying Fleet charged back with a 10-3 run to tie it at 12 while Catherine McAlister chimed in with a trio of kills.
The rest of the set was a see-saw battle, but consecutive LMC errors put EC up 23-20.
Haylee Leonard (Winston-Salem, N.C.) delivered a kill to cut the deficit to two, but the Flying Fleet muscled out two more points to take the opening set while hitting a match-best .316.
Liscio and Cotté notched a kill each to give Coach Dave Schmidlin's squad a 16-15 advantage.
EC ceased control of the set following a quartet of Caitlin Bullock kills to spark a 10-2 run to close out the set.
Liscio and EC's Kelly Sullivan went kill-for-kill throughout the third set, but consecutive kills from Sullivan gave the Flying Fleet a 23-21 lead.
The Bobcats took advantage of a service error to cut the deficit to one, 23-22.
EC clamped down and won the next two points to complete the sweep.
Junior Allyson Schillinger (Spring Hill, Fla.) dished out 27 assists while freshman Taylor Hicks (Blountville, Tenn.) impressed defensively with 13 digs.
Cotté was named to the all-tournament team.
- LMC -
