Lee needs 5 to beat Streaks

STAUNTON – The first game jitters got the best of Harrisonburg on Thursday when Lee beat the Streaks in five games 22-25, 26-24, 25-19, 26-28, and 15-12 in the season opener.
First year Lee Ladies coach Ruth Shaia didn’t know what to expect coming into the match. With two of her best players out with injuries, she could only hope for the best.
“All I knew was that Harrisonburg would return every ball,” Shaia said.
Though Harrisonburg came away with the first match, Lee would not be kept down. The Lee Ladies came out onto the court pumped, chanting and stomping their feet prepared for battle.
The second match played out a lot like the first with a majority of hitting errors and bad serves, but the Lee Ladies kept their heads up. Power house Kendra Scott and Victoria Williams kept control at the net while Jessica Halasz took over with her serves.
The back-to-back wins in the second and third match had the Lee Ladies on their toes but the Streaks weren’t going down without a fight. The fourth match went back and forth between the teams, until Harrisonburg started to pull away. Kills from Lee’s Caleh Hupman and Williams brought the match to within one, but mistakes on the Lee Ladies’s side gave the Streaks an advantage. A long pass from Lee put Harrisonburg up by one and a hard ace from Connie Syhabandith sent the Streaks over the top.
With the matches split, the teams took a long break and came out fired up.
The first three consecutive points went to Lee until a serve into the net put Harrisonburg at the line. A kill from the Streaks’ Mandy Kauffman took the score to within two until a hitting error put the ball back into the Lee Ladies’s court. An ace from Carrie Anson and a kill from Hupman put the score at 6-2. Four consecutive points from the Streaks tied the game up and the bantering continued.
With the score tied at 10, the Lee Ladies started their rally to pull away. Three kills from Scott and some bad decisions from the Streaks put the score at 14-11. Two long serves and the game was over.
“This was a big game to win without my two key players,” said Shaia. “This pulled the team together and made every player important.”
Scott had 11 kills and Hupman had six while Halasz had eight digs.
The Lee Ladies will travel to Broadway on Tuesday while Harrisonburg hosts Stuarts Draft.