Lee's Lee Records 1,000th Assist in Win over Mount Greylock
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- History arrived at just the right moment for Suriana Lee and the rest of the Lee Wildcats on Friday. Lee eclipsed her 1,000th career assist, which helped spark the Wildcats to a tough road victory over the Mount Greylock Mounties in four sets.
Lee’s milestone came during the second set, when she set up Kylie Joyce for a kill that made it a 13-6 lead. The team called a timeout in order to have a quick celebration in recognition of the accomplishment.
“It feels amazing. It is something that I have always wanted to do,” Lee said. “It feels amazing to work so hard for something and for it to come true.”
It was Lee’s eighth assist to that point in the action, and she ended the night with 19 assists, seven digs, two kills, two blocks and four aces.
“I’m so proud of Suri. She is such a hard worker and she deserves every little bit of recognition for a difficult task,” Lee head coach Julia Warner said. “Huge kudos to the rest of our team for really showing up for her. It is a team game and one thing that I think is that we came out a little jittery at the beginning and we had some nerves, but after dropping that first set I was very proud of them in getting it together and pulling together three straight after that. They always play well as a team.”
In order to achieve a record such as hers, it took exactly the sort of effort that Lee got on Friday. Erin Brisebois had nine kills and four blocks and Lizzy Brown had 12 kills and seven digs.
“The team means everything. Without them I wouldn’t be where I am today,” Lee said. “I am so lucky and so grateful to have such a great team. It was really important that they stayed consistent, even though there is this big moment. They don’t get into their heads and we’re on top of it. They are always staying focused and in the game, and it is just so good to have so many people that I can rely on. Even if somebody is having a bad night there is always somebody else to support me.”
After dropping the opening set to the gritty Mounties, the Wildcats (6-1) regrouped to take the next three matches, 25-13, 25-17 and 25-21.
Warner felt the team was not passing as well and had unforced errors serving and hitting in the opening match, which Greylock won 25-16. But things quickly began to turn in the Wildcats’ favor from there.
“After they got a few errors out of their system, it definitely turned around in that second set,” Warner said. “Going up right away in the second set was a huge confidence boost. It brought their energy up, which brings everything else up. It’s a snowball of plays, and building on that momentum is important. Greylock has some tough servers and a pretty solid defense, so it definitely made it tough to put a couple of balls down. But we managed to, and it kind of resulted in our win.”
Lee was again the driving force, as she opened with nine straight service points to help the Wildcats build a 9-0 lead.
“Momentum is everything,” Lee said. “Volleyball is very much a mental game, so you have to stay in it, even if you’re in the lead, or you’re not going to go anywhere. Once we felt that momentum and felt that push and that spirit, we wanted to just keep it throughout the entire match. We didn’t want to lose it, even if we were down or if we just lost five points in a row. We still had that fighting fire inside of us.”
The Wildcats again broke out with a big lead in the third set, going up 6-0 out of the gate. The Mounties (5-4) fought back to tie things up at 7-7, but ball movement and timely strikes helped Lee again pull away.
“Hats off to Lee, they played a very complete game and they had a really strong second and third set,” Mounties head coach Greg Geyer said. “I think we had more unforced errors than Lee did, and I think that was a difference-maker in some of the sets. I think we are just coming together. I don’t think Lee had dropped a set to anybody in the county, until tonight. So we’re looking forward to seeing them again in a couple of weeks and seeing how much farther we are. But again, hats off to them, they are playing great volleyball.”
The Mounties again fell behind right away in the final match, as Lee built a 7-2 advantage. Again Greylock battled back, as an ace from Alyssa Phelps evened it up at 13-13. The two sides played tug-of-war and kept it tight, until Brisebois came up with a pivotal block to give the Wildcats a 22-19 lead. Brisebois later closed it out with the final point that ended the night.
“I’m very happy with where we are,” Geyer said. “It did not show up in every set, but we are able to play at an extremely high level and we’ve only been playing together for a month. The team playing together and learning as a unit is what takes some time.”
Greylock matched the Wildcats’ intensity all night long, and Geyer now wants the team to focus on each point and not get distracted by the overall score.
“They are going to be amazed at the end of the year in how far they will come,” Geyer said. “I am proud of these girls, I really am. They are working very, very hard, and I am very happy with them.”
Takierra Darrow did a little bit of everything throughout the action, and she led the club with 13 digs, seven kills and two aces. Emma Hayward had 16 digs, Lucy Shepard had seven digs, six kills and an ace and Phelps chipped in with five digs, four aces and a kill.