BANNER ELK, N.C. --- Junior Jariliz Cotté delivered a double-double and freshman Madison Martin (Goldsboro, N.C.) impressed defensively with 19 digs while the Lees-McRae women's volleyball team defeated Belmont Abbey, 25-21, 25-22, 23-25, 25-16, in Conference Carolinas action Wednesday evening at Williams Gymnasium in Banner Elk, N.C.
The Bobcats (7-5, 3-1 CC) showed no fear against the reigning Conference Carolinas Volleyball Tournament Champions while hitting better than .300 in two of the four sets. The Crusaders (2-11, 1-3 CC) saw Hannah Schellenberg produce her own double-double with 12 kills and 20 digs.
BAC took a quick 5-1 lead to open action, but LMC stormed back with an 11-4 run thanks to a trio of Jordan Banta (Virginia Beach, Va.) kills.
The junior had a match-high 16 kills.
Schellenberg tied it at 13 with a kill, but a Cotté kill and shaky play from the Crusaders pushed the LMC lead to 22-18.
Cotté and sophomore Avalon Liscio (Naples, Fla.) delivered a kill each to seal the opening set.
BAC took advantage of an attack and service error to take a 13-9 lead.
Coach Dave Schmidlin's squad buckled down and stormed back to take a 23-20 lead after Haylee Leonard (Winston-Salem, N.C.) and Cotté smashed kills.
The Bobcats claimed two of the next four points to win the set while hitting a match-best .361.
The third set was a see-saw battle while it had six ties.
A quartet of errors gave the Crusaders the advantage and a 22-21 lead. BAC stayed tough despite a Banta kill to avoid the sweep.
Four different Bobcats had a block assist in the fourth set while LMC held BAC to an ineffective .000 clip.
Freshman Taylor Hicks (Blountville, Tenn.) gave the home squad its largest lead of the night, 23-14, with a well-placed service ace.
Liscio put the exclamation point on the victory with a solo block to wrap up the match.
LMC junior Allyson Schillinger (Spring Hill, Fla.) dished out 44 assists while Cotté had 15 kills and 16 digs.
The Bobcats return to action Friday Oct. 3 when they welcome North Greenville at 7 p.m. to Williams Gymnasium.
- LMC -
