BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Lees-McRae women's volleyball downed King (Tenn.) in Conference Carolinas play this evening in five sets as
Destiny Holley and
Sydney Stigler propelled the Bobcat offense with 17 kills apiece.
Madison Goins dished out a career-high 57 assists in the contest.
THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: Lees-McRae def. King, 3-2 (23-25, 25-20, 19-25, 25-15, 15-11)
LOCATION: Student Center Complex -- Bristol, Tennessee
RECORDS: Lees-McRae (4-14/3-5); King (9-9/4-3)
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Lees-McRae had a season-high ,as team, with a .262 hitting percentage to grab the five-set victory in entertaining fashion on Tuesday night. Stigler and Holley paced the Bobcats with 17 kills apiece and Annalaine Tew and Hailey Gilreath followed with 15 and 11 kills respectively.
- Bre Adamson tallied a career-high 23 digs to lead Lees-McRae on the defensive end as Goins collected 18 digs to finish with a double-double in addition to her 57 assists.
- In the match, King registered the first three points of the match, but the Bobcats battled back to take the 19-18 lead after a kill by Tew. The Tornado rattled off the next seven of 11 points in the opening set to take the one-set advantage, 25-23.
- Lees-McRae knotted the match at one set each after finishing the second set on a four-point run with kills by Gilreath and Holley to cap the set at 25-20.
- In the third set, King jumped out to a 5-2 lead after back-to-back attack errors by the Bobcats. Lees-McRae knotted the score at 12-12 and had the slight edge at 13-12 off a service ace via Carmen Osinga. King collected the set victory when the Tornado rallied with seven consecutive points and earned the set at 25-19.
- The fourth set went the way of the Bobcats as Lees-McRae had a hitting percentage of .444 in the set with 16 kills and zero errors to force a fifth set. The Bobcats held off a late rally by King as Tew sent the match to a decisive fifth set via kill at 25-15.
- Holley collected a kill to start the fifth set for the Bobcats and pushed the advantage to 3-1 early in the set. Lees-McRae used three two-point swings to push their lead to 11-7 after a kill by Goins. The Bobcats got the match victory after three consecutive points with Goins and Holley slamming the door shut on the Tornado at 15-11 after a double block.
- Lees-McRae had a season-best 66 kills in the five-set victory on Tuesday evening and picked up a hitting percentage of .262 to lead the way.
FOR THE TORNADO:
- Hailee Blankenship led the way for King with 13 kills as Abigale Jayne tallied 13 kills also in the contest. Kate Harless had a team-high 36 assists for the Tornado and Claire Wilson registered 16 digs in the match.
NOTEWORTHY:
- After picking up the five-set victory tonight, Lees-McRae and King are now tied at one point in the "Battle for the Blue Ridge Cup" competition for the 2022-23 season. Lees-McRae also earned its first victory against King since February 21 when the Bobcats won in three sets to open the spring-shortened season.
- The 57 assists by Goins are the sixth time in program history since 2015 that a Bobcat has registered 50 or more assists in a match.
UP NEXT:
Lees-McRae returns to the McNair & Debi Tornow Court on Friday night for a conference matchup with Francis Marion. The first serve is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Friday.
For more information on Lees-McRae Athletics, follow the Bobcats on Twitter (@LMCBobcats), on Facebook (Lees-McRae Athletics), and on Instagram (leesmcraeathletics).
