CLEVELAND, Tennessee – On the road again for the first time since September 22, the University of Alabama in Huntsville earned a 3-1 win at Lee Tuesday evening in the Chargers' (14-2, 6-1 GSC) latest Gulf South Conference outing.
The first set fell the way of the Flames (8-6, 4-3) as Lee jumped out to a 4-0 start. UAH responded with four straight points of its own to level the score before each side traded the next several exchanges before Lee jumped ahead, again, 15-10. While the Chargers jumped back into contention late in the set, coming as close as one point away from Lee's lead at 23-22, the Flames took Set 1, 25-22.
UAH jumped out to a 5-3 lead to start the second set, punctuated by a service ace from Sydney Durban to close the run. While Lee initially kept the score close, the Flames' offense was snuffed out as the Chargers opened up their scoring to move ahead 15-7 at the 15-point media timeout as Amelia Smith struck one of her four kills in the match. From that point, the closest UAH allowed Lee to come to the Chargers' lead was five points as UAH earned the set win 25-17. Kayla Ward led the Chargers through the set with five kills as UAH outpaced Lee 15-8 in kills while hitting at a 0.367 efficiency.
The third set firmly belonged to the Chargers after they responded to Lee's opening point with five straight of their own as Ward hit one kill and Ella Schumacher kicked off a dominant set with three of her own in a row. UAH allowed Lee to come within two points, 5-3, but that was the closest the host school came the remainder of the set as the Chargers continued to widen their lead, nearly outscoring Lee 2-to-1 the remainder of the set to take a 25-11 win and a 2-1 overall lead. Ward and Alex McGeehan tied for second for the Chargers in kills in the set with two each while Schumacher hit half of her night's total in the third with eight kills.
Early in the fourth set both sides evenly traded points while the Flames held a slight advantage, leading 10-7. UAH responded in kind, however, and pushed the fourth set into a back-and-forth battle before finally tying the score at 16 each on another Schumacher kill. UAH rattled off the next four points to complete the 5-0 run to take a 20-16 lead on the heels of two Cooper Garrett kills, a combo block from Mary Grace Bundrant and Emily Redman, and finally a solo stop from Redman. Lee managed another four points, but couldn't catch up to UAH as the Chargers put away the set and match with a 25-20 win.
IN THE STATS
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Ella Schumacher set a season-high for kills in a game for UAH with 16 against Lee. Kayla Ward added another 11 kills while Emily Redman scored nine and Cooper Garrett another six.
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Anna Clare Hutto led UAH in assists with 24 while Garrett added 19 of her own.
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Ward led the team defensively with 3.5 total blocks, scoring two solo stops and three assists. Redman added 2.0 with one solo while Mary Grace Bundrant added 1.5 total with three assists.
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Brooklyn Stiles led UAH with 14 digs while Redman added 12 and Garrett another 11.
COMING UP
UAH remains on the road as the Chargers head to Montgomery for a showdown with AUM on Oct. 9 before heading to Valdosta, Georgia, to face Valdosta State on Oct. 10.
The Chargers' next home match will come against Trevecca Nazarene at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 13.
