Clicking on all cylinders during its own Lee Invitational, the fourth-ranked Lady Flames volleyball team whipped Belhaven (Miss.) University (3-0) early Saturday morning, and then turned right around and pinned a 3-0 defeat on Union University later in the day.

By winning three straight matches in the invitational, the Lady Flames improved to 10-0. They will return to SSAC action on Tuesday, traveling to Brenau University (Ga.) for a 7 p.m. match.

Next Friday coach Andrea Hudson will face a serious challenge when Emory University visits Walker Arena for a 7 p.m. match.

Lee continued to quickly dispose of their opponents on Saturday morning when it needed less than an hour to defeat Belhaven University, 3-0 (25-17, 25-8, 25-8).

Belhaven is one of the new schools that joined the Southern States Athletic Conference this season. “It was good to play well against them,” said coach Hudson. “We will see only one other school from the other side of the conference (Mobile) before tournament time. Belhaven showed last night that they are a good team (beating Union University in five sets).”

Lee continued to dominate play at the net. Stephanie Todd whipped up a double-double, 10 kills and 10 digs. The junior had a team-high .600 hitting percentage, and also added an ace and a block.

Val Caboclo paced the Lady Flames in kills (11). Her hitting percentage was at .588. She also added a block. Senior Kayla Carlisle displayed her leadership with eight kills (.538 hitting percentage). She kicked in with three blocks.

Gretchen Higdon and Kelsey Leffew were keys to the kills. Higdon had 21 assists and Leffew pitched in with 16. Arlene Ferreira added five kills and paced Lee with 13 digs.

Coach Hudson saluted her club's consistent serving. “I recently heard a key volleyball figure say good defensive teams start with serving. I really believe that and we've stressed it to our girls. Lee only had three service errors in the match. On the other hand, Hudson's unit delivered four aces. Two of the aces came from Christa Hutchison. She also had four kills and six digs.

In the 25-12, 25-13, 25-18 romp over the Lady Bulldogs from Jackson, Carisle stood out again with 11 kills and four blocks.

Hutchison joined in with nine kills, two aces, five digs and two blocks. Ferreira connected on eight slams. She also registered eight digs.

Stephanie Todd and Rachel Cunningham pitched in with six kills each. Todd was credited with five digs and two blocks. Cunningham was also impressive with a .750 hitting percentage.

Leffew had 20 assists and Higdon 14. Sarah Smith added nine digs to the winning mark.

In Friday’s opening round, revenge came swiftly for the Lady Flames. A year ago SCAD Savannah handed the Lady Flames their only home court defeat of the season.

Remembering the loss, Lee took less than 90 minutes to take the sting out of the Bees 3-0 (25-15, 25-15, 25-12) this time around.

“We played well,” said assistant coach Kevin Hudson as he moved quickly to handle other business in the two-day event. “We had not forgotten that SCAD was the last team to beat us on our home court.”

Carlisle was in top form in recording 12 kills and posting a remarkable .733 hitting percentage. She also chipped in with a pair of blocks.

Hutchison was in double-figures in the kill department. She slammed home 10 and posted a solid .571 hitting mark. Hutchison walked away with four digs and two blocks.

Todd stepped up the attack with seven kills, eight digs and a block. Arlene Ferreira followed with another excellent effort, six kills, six big aces and 10 digs.

Leffew and Gretchen Higdon shared the assists honors with 16 apiece.