BANNER ELK, N.C. – The Converse University volleyball team fell 3-1 to Lees-McRae on Wednesday night at Williams Gymnasium.
Converse (0-10, 0-1 CC) starts the season with double-digit losses for the first time since the 2013 volleyball season. With the loss on Wednesday night the Valkyries are now 3-13 against Lees-McRae (3-13, 1-0 CC).
The Valkyries got out to a hot start, winning four out of the first five points. The Valkyries maintained the lead until the Bobcats went on a three-point run down 9-8 midway through the opening set. The two squads traded points the rest of the way and never let the other get ahead by more than three-points.
Maddie Mount kept the set alive at 27-27 but the Valkyries were unable to capitalize on the momentum and lost the opening set 29-27.
Lees-McRae carried the momentum over from the first set and began the second set on a 5-0 run. That did not stop the Valkyries, however, as they battled back and took the lead on three consecutive kills by
Elizabeth Coffey,
Ansley Hodge and Mount. Following a
Jasmine Finkley kill at 14-12, Converse never looked back in the second set.
Anna Rabon picked up the final kill of the set to give the Valkyries a 25-23 second set win.
In the third set Lees-McRae used a pair of 4-0 runs to job out to a 14-7 lead early in the set. The Valkyries used a lot of energy and battled back within a trio of points at 22-19. The late 5-1 run appeared to have rattled the Bobcats as the Valkyries nearly pulled off the comeback but fell just short at 25-23.
In the fourth set the Bobcats jumped out to an early 14-5 advantage and never looked back as they went on to win the final set of the evening 25-13.
Savanah Ducote,
Madison Gregory and
Anna Rabon each recorded a double-double in the loss for the Valkyries. Ducote posted 17 assists and 14 digs, Gregory added 23 assists and 15 digs and Rabon led the team with 15 kills and had 16 digs in the match. For both Gregory and Rabon this is their fourth double-double of the season, this is the first double-double of the season for Ducote.
Kiara Cannon finished second on the team with 11 kills and
Elizabeth Yohe just missed out on a double-double of her own with an 8 assist and 22 dig performance.
Jasmine Finkley finished third on the team with 9 kills and finished tied for the team lead with four total blocks.
Next Up:
Converse will hold their home opener this Saturday afternoon against North Greenville University. First serve is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.
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