Lee was denied a SSAC championship last season by Shorter. After knocking off top-seeded Berry on Friday, the Lady Flames wasted no time in whipping the Lady Hawks, 25-22, 25-20, 25-17.
Lee will now await the announcement of who their first opponent will be in the NAIA National Tournament play-in game. That decision will be released by the NAIA on Sunday afternon.
In the opening game Lee broke open a 6-6 with a 6-0 run and Shorter was never able to cut the advantage to less than the final margin. Questel had four kills in the set and Hutchison and Vedrana Krsmanovic slammed three apiece.
It was the same story in the second set. Lee zipped out to a 16-7 lead and the Lady Hawks could never catch up. They did cut the Lady Flames' margin to 16-13 before Hutchison came up with another key kill. The Lady Flames salted the championship away by zipping out to a 20-11 margin in the final set and win in convincing style.
SSAC ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
MOUNT BERRY, Ga. -- Lee University won the 2008 Southern States in dominant fashion, losing just one set in the entire tournament. The Flames beat Shorter 3-0 on Sat. afternoon to clinch the title and ensure an automatic qualification into the NAIA National Tournament. Following that match the SSAC announced the All-Tournament team.
Kasi Runion and Ashlie Stewartson from Shorter also made the cut. Berry's Shawn Carroll and Taylor Minor rounded out the All-Tournament selections.
SSAC All-Tournament Team
