DUE WEST, S.C. --- A trio of Lees-McRae volleyball players recorded at least 20 digs and junior Jariliz Cotté delivered a match-high 23 kills while the team defeated Erskine, 21-25, 28-26, 27-29, 25-19, 15-13 in a thrilling five-set Conference Carolinas battle Friday evening at Belk Arena in Due West, S.C.
The Bobcats (17-9, 10-5) claimed their eighth victory in their last ten matches while moving into second place in the North Division by a game. The Flying Fleet (18-7, 14-1) were handed their first conference loss of the year while not swinging .114 or better in any set.
Cotté (Bayamon, Puerto Rico) gave LMC its largest lead of the first set, 12-9, with an ace in the early goings.
EC charged back to take a four-point lead, 22-18, following a Caitlin Bullock kill.
Bullock paced the Flying Fleet with 20 on the evening after taking 82 swings.
Junior Jordan Banta (Virginia Beach, Va.) cut the deficit to two, 23-21, with one of her 11 kills on the evening.
EC's Catherine McAlister and Marissa Greenough used consecutive kills to give the home squad the opening set.
Coach Dave Schmidlin's team took advantage of a pair of attack errors to inch out to an 11-7 lead in the second.
The Flying Fleet rallied back to take an one point lead, 24-23, following a Kelly Sullivan and Kristen Dodge block to force game point.
LMC rallied behind the arm of Cotté and sophomore Avalon Liscio (Naples, Fla.) to finish the set on a 4-2 run and win it in thrilling fashion.
McAlister stuffed an LMC attack attempt to give EC a 20-16 lead late in the third, but LMC used an 8-4 run to tie it at 24 following consecutive attack errors.
Greenbough connected on a pair of kills while the Flying Fleet were able to squeeze out a two-point fwin in the third set.
A quartet of service aces gave EC an early 8-3 lead in the fourth.
The Bobcats rallied back while a trio of LMC players registered a kill to tie it at 10.
Junior Allyson Schillinger (Spring Hill, Fla.) dished out four assists to Cotté to spark a 7-0 run to put LMC up 17-12 in the fourth.
The Bobcats held EC at arm's length and used a Cotté and Liscio block to seal the fourth set.
LMC led wire-to-wire in the final set and used consecutive kills from Banta to complete the upset.
Cotté and freshman Madison Martin (Goldsboro, N.C.) led the team with 26 digs each while Schillinger dished out 45 assists.
LMC concludes its regular season with a trip to Franklin Springs, Ga. to battle CC newcomer Emmanuel (Ga.) at 2 p.m.
- LMC -
