Box Score Due West, S.C. – For the first time since re-instating volleyball as varsity sport in 2009, Erskine defeated Lees-McRae College 3-1 in Conference Carolinas women’s volleyball action at Belk Arena.  Erskine was previously winless in eight attempts, including a loss in the conference championship tournament match two years ago.

Similar to previous meetings, Lees-McRae took an early lead in the first set.  However, this time the Fleet fought back and took the lead at 15-14 on a block by senior Liz Massey (Greenville, SC, Eastside High School).  The two teams swapped the lead several times over the next series of points before the Fleet prevailed on a Bobcat attack error and a kill by freshman Kelly Sullivan (Wellington, FL, Wellington Community High School) for the 25-23 victory.

Winning the first set seemed to give a confidence boost to the Fleet as they erupted for a 25 to 16 win in the second set.  Senior Lauren Stewart (Hartwell, GA, Hart County High School) and sophomore Caitlin Bullock (Lexington, SC, White Knoll High School)led the charge with three kills each.  The Fleet also did a better job at the net defensively.  After no logging a block in the first set, the Fleet scored five points off blocks in the second set.

Lees-McRae quickly grabbed the momentum in the third set jumping out to a 14 to 5 advantage.   Following a timeout, Erskine managed to slow LMC but could close the gap as the Bobcats won 25-15.  Taylor Clendenin came off the bench to knock down 7 kills on just 10 attempts to lead the Bobcat rally.

In the fourth and final set, Coach Heather Vahjen reset her defense and limited Clendenin to just one kill.  The strategy worked well for the Fleet as they won the set easily at 25-14.  Bullock paced the Fleet attack with 4 kills.

On the night, Stewart had a game-high 14 kills along with 6 digs.  Bullock finished with 13 kills and 3 service aces while senior Larz Chabra (Mt. Pleasant, SC, Wando High School) had 5 kills, 41 assists, and 8 digs from her setter position.  Senior Brooke Dodge (Duncan, SC, Byrnes High School) had a game-high 14 digs.

Erskine had 11 service aces on the evening.

The win is the fourth consecutive victory for Erskine (11-8, 9-2) and their ninth in ten games.  Erskine will take a couple of days for Fall Break then return to action to compete next weekend at a tournament hosted by Augusta State University.