CLEVELAND, Tenn. — Mississippi Christian (11-18, 8-9 Gulf South) lost to Lee (15-10, 10-7 Gulf South) 3-0 on Thursday at Paul Dana Walker Arena. The Choctaws hit .087 with 34 kills, while Lee finished with 45 kills and a .271 hitting percentage.
MC was within 13-12 midway through the first set before Lee scored four straight points to create a 17-12 gap in a frame that had been tied repeatedly. Earlier, the Blue and Gold opened with back-to-back kills by
Rhaia Davey and
Audrianna Green off
Reese Regner assists for a 2-0 lead, and Regner's kill later put the visitors back in front 3-2 after Lee tied it.
Caroline Downey helped the Choctaws answer through the middle of the set with kills that tied it at 7-7 and 8-8, and a Lee service error followed by a Lee attack error gave MC a 10-9 lead. After Lee's run, the Blue and Gold got kills from
Cydney Mitchell, Downey and Davey while also benefiting from Lee errors to reach 18-22. Lee took the final three points to close the set 25-18.
The Choctaws made their deepest late push in the second set by scoring consecutive points to move within 19-18, but Lee answered with the next three points and kept the visitors from completing the rally. Earlier, MC traded points through a 7-7 start behind kills from
Meg Paparella,
Cydney Mitchell,
Aubrie Lay and Downey, with
Reese Regner and
Mamie Fromdahl setting up several of those swings. Lee created separation at 10-7 and later led 15-11 before Paparella delivered a kill, the Blue and Gold benefited from a Lee attack error and Paparella served an ace to cut the gap to 15-14.
Reese Regner and
Rhaia Davey added kills as the Choctaws stayed within range, and Paparella recorded two more late kills before Lee finished the set 25-21.
MC made its clearest push early in the third set, cutting Lee's 10-5 lead to 10-8 on a
Rhaia Davey kill, a
Meg Paparella service ace and a
Reese Regner kill. Earlier,
Audrianna Green and
Cydney Mitchell helped the Blue and Gold answer Lee's opening points, while Davey added another kill during the early scoring. Lee rebuilt the margin to 16-10 before the Choctaws got points from Downey, Paparella and a block by Green and Davey. Paparella later added kills at 18-14 and 19-16, and
Emma Levingston put down a late kill to extend the set before Lee finished it 25-17.
Reese Regner led MC with 22 assists and 13 digs.
Meg Paparella recorded eight kills, two service aces and seven digs.
Rhaia Davey matched the team high with eight kills while hitting .353 and adding a block assist.
Samarin Kipple collected 12 digs and added three assists.
