BANNER ELK, N.C. --- The Lees-McRae women's volleyball dropped a hard fought, 27-25, 18-25, 19-25, 18-25 decision to Conference Carolinas foe Limestone Saturday afternoon at Williams Gymnasium in Banner Elk, N.C.
The Saints (2-11, 2-0 CC) claimed their second consecutive victory after a hapless 0-11 start to the season behind a balanced offensive attack. The Bobcats' (6-5, 2-1 CC) Allyson Schillinger (Spring Hill, Fla.) notched her seventh match of at least 30 assists.
The first set was as tight as they come while neither team led by more than two the whole set. LC's Erin Courtenay looked poised to give the Saints the first set after a kill made it 24-23. However, she muffed the ensuing serve and a block from Avalon Liscio (Naples, Fla.) and Haylee Leonard (Winston-Salem, N.C.) put LMC up 25-24.
Liscio and Jariliz Cotté notched consecutive kills, giving the Bobcats the 27-25 victory.
Coach Dave Schmidlin's team hit a team-best .273 in the opening stanza.
The Saints produced a 9-3 run in the middle of the second behind a pair of Courtenay block assists to take a 19-13 lead.
Darla Svoboda connected on one of her eight kills to stretch the lead to eight, 22-14.
Following a service error, LC tied it a one set each after hitting a match-best .429.
The Saints sprinted out to a 10-4 lead in the third, but LMC methodically climbed back into it and tied it at 16 following a Liscio kill.
The sophomore had 10 kills on the day while Cotté led the Bobcats with 13.
LC used a 9-3 run to close the set out.
The third set provided a mirror image of the first while the Saints jumped out an 8-2 lead, before choking away the lead after a Taylor Moretz (Lexington, N.C.) and junior Jordan Banta (Virginia Beach, Va.) block notched it at 13.
LC would clamp down and rip off a 12-5 run to claim the win.
Courtenay led all players with 19 kills while Natalie Tucker and Mary Kate Katarzynski dished out 25 assists each.
Freshman Madison Martin (Goldsboro, N.C.) paced the Bobcats with 12 digs while Schillinger had 10.
LMC returns to action Wednesday at 7 p.m. to battle Belmont Abbey in a Conference Carolinas bout in Williams Gymnasium.
- LMC -
