BANNER ELK, N.C. --- Three Lees-McRae women's volleyball players registered at least seven kills while LMC swept Pfeiffer, 25-18, 25-19, 25-16 to win its Conference Carolinas and home opener Tuesday evening in Williams Gymnasium in Banner Elk, N.C.
The Bobcats (5-4, 1-0 CC) won their conference opener for the first time since 2011 behind the arm of junior Jariliz Cotté (Bayamon, Puerto Rico) and the hands of Allyson Schillinger (Spring Hill, Fla.). The Falcons (0-8, 0-1) remain winless and was held to under .035 in two of the three sets.
PU jumped out to a 7-3 lead thanks to a trio of LMC attack errors to commence play, but the Bobcats rallied with a 7-1 run following an ace and one of Cotté's match-high 16 kills.
The Bobcat lead would see their lead balloon to five after junior Jordan Banta (Virginia Beach, Va.) contributed one of her seven kills, 21-16.
Cotté would deliver the second of her three aces before Banta cranked out another kill while LMC claimed the first set and held PU to a match low .032 clip.
The second set proved to be a tight one when an Avalon Liscio (Naples, Fla.) knotted it up at 11 with one of her seven kills.
Coach Dave Schmidlin's squad would rip off a 10-5 run to extend the lead to six, 22-16, thanks to a trio of kills from Liscio.
Freshman Siarra Walker (Winston-Salem, N.C.) chimed in with a kill and block assist to wrap up the set while the Bobcats hit a sparkling .370.
Freshman Ana Rodríguez fueled an 8-0 run with a pair of service aces to give the home team a 17-11 lead in the final set.
Banta and Walker teamed up for a pair of blocks to push the advantage to 23-15. LMC would win two of the next three points to complete the sweep.
Schillinger paced the team with 30 assists while freshman Madison Martin (Goldsboro, N.C.) had a match-high 13 digs.
The Falcons' Kelsey Blauser led the team with eight kills while Haley Denny had nine digs.
The Bobcats continue their six-match homestand when they welcome Converse for a Conference Carolinas match Friday at 7 p.m. in Williams Gymnasium.
- LMC -
