The home-court winning streak continues for the Lee University volleyball team. The mark reached 70 straight on Thursday evening when coach Andrea Hudson's team overpowered visiting State University of West Georgia 3-0.  

The win gives the Lady Flames the second longest home-court winning streak in the history of NAIA volleyball. The 32-30, 30-21, 30-24 victory over a strong NCAA Division II opponent made the triumph even more special.

With possibly a record-setting volleyball crowd (no official count) cheering every point, the Lady Flames edged past the 22-7 Braves in a thrilling first match. Bojana Vulin made it 31-30 with a kill and Daisy Varbanova followed with a block to seal the decision.

Coach Hudson agreed that the opening-game win seemed to take a lot of the confidence away from the West Georgia team that was riding an eight-game winning streak. "We still made some mistakes, but you learn more from your mistakes against a good team like West Georgia," added Hudson.  

Hudson noted that the crowd was outstanding and helped her team get motivated for the key battle. The coach also praised the play of Rachel Clinton, who joined others in stepping up to replace the injured Ligia Zobolli. "Ligia had really been playing well," said Hudson. "It is nice to see our other players step up in this type of situation."

After Lee won the second game handily, West Georgia put up a much better fight in the final game. The Braves grabbed a 7-2 advantage and Hudson was forced to call a timeout. The Lady Flames fought back and gained the upper hand 11-10 on a kill by Clinton.

The finale remained close until the Lady Flames opened a 26-20 margin and forced a West Georgia timeout. It was never closer than three points again. Bruna Langner sealed the victory with a slam to give Lee the record-tying match.

Vulin paced the Lady Flames at the net with 12 kills. The senior added two service aces, 11 digs and a pair of blocks. Langner followed close behind with 11 kills, one block and four blocking assists. Clinton countered with nine kills and Naiara Fernandes chipped in with six slams.

Freshman Katie Thornton stepped up with 23 assists, five key aces and three digs. Senior Lisa Kidwell contributed 16 assists and four digs, while the "digging machine" Missy Elser added 17 digs.

The Lady Flames will seek to move into second place in the home-court winning streak record book next Thursday when they close out the regular season and also host senior night against visiting Brenau University.