Banner Elk, N.C. – North Greenville chalked up its third Conference Carolinas win of the season on Friday with a 3-0 (25-23, 25-18, 24-18) win over Lees-McRae.

Kenzie Pierce led all players with 17-kills on 36 attempts. The junior outside hitter finished with a .389 hitting percentage committing just three errors. Madison Pogue finished with 32-assists while Annmarie Johnston led the team with four blocks. Eaden Shockley and Pierce led the Crusaders with eight digs each.

The Crusaders led by as many as five in the first frame but saw the Bobcats storm back to even the score late. North Greenville never trailed, but a 5-0 run late in the frame by Lees-McRae evened the tally at 21-21. The two squads would then trade points to make the score 22-22 before two straight from NGU set up game point. The Bobcats would pull to within one again, but an attack kill on the ensuing serve would give North Greenville a 1-0 set lead.

The Crusaders would be the ones working from behind in the second set as the Bobcats jumped out to an 8-3 lead early on. North Greenville trailed 13-14 midway through the set before back-to-back kills from Pierce and an LMC attack error tied the score at 16-16. The Bobcats continued to aid the NGU offense, as four consecutive errors capped by a kill from Pierce would give NGU a 21-16 lead. North Greenville then scored four of the final six points, including two kills from Haley Hester to take the win and extend the lead to two sets over the home standing Bobcats. T

The Crusaders once again found themselves down early in the set but staged a comeback earlier in the frame. North Greenville would stage a comeback after trailing 6-5, stringing together seven straight points, including kills from Brittany Tepedino and Sommer Cagle to take a 12-6 lead. The Crusaders would go on to take a 16-9 advantage but the Bobcats would inch closer and pull to within one (18-17) but another NGU run would give the Crusaders a four point cushion en route to a 25-18 victory.

The Crusaders improved to 11-4 on the season and 3-2 in Conference Carolinas play. The team will travel to Bristol, Tennessee on Saturday for a 2pm match with King University.