Brenau Loses Conference Opener to #3 Lee

Gainesville,Ga - The Brenau volleyball team opened their conference schedule tonight at the Tiger Gym against NAIA #3 Lee University (11-0) and played right with the Flames for long stretches of the match before succumbing 17-25, 18-25, 18-25. Sophomore Libero Danelle Russell (Cartersville), who currently is ranked #23 in the nation in digs with 219, had 10 more in this one.

Also coming up with 10 digs apiece was Melissa Thornton and Alexis Arthur and the same two players had five kills also. Arthur currently leads the Tigers in kills on the season with 124. Sophomore setters Kerry Abernathy and Mekenna Cipres led in assists with 10 and 8 respectively. Abernathy is the team leader in assists for the season with 193. Senior leftside hitter Courtney Frady came up with four kills in the match.

The first game was close all the way to 16 points before the visitors put together a run to pull away for the win. The same thing was true in game two as the teams battled back and forth before Lee was able to seize momentum at the end of the game. In the deciding game, Lee pulled away for an 18-8 lead before Brenau roared back to pull within four points before the visitors from Cleveland, TN were able to pull away and win the match.

"Even though we lost the match, I saw long stretches of play from our team that makes me think we can play against quality teams and compete favorably. When you are playing a good team, every little mistake you make is magnified and we made too many of those near the end of games tonight," said Coach Meredith Franklin. "That is the best match we have played against Lee and we can take many positive things as we move forward."

Brenau will continue conference play on Friday when they host Shorter University at 6 pm at the Tiger Gym.