NEWBERRY, S.C. � Tonya Deese had a career high 18 kills and Alicia Khoury tied a school record of 63 assists as Newberry rallied back from a 2-1 deficit to defeat Lenoir-Rhyne, 3-2 Saturday afternoon. Two Indians recorded double-doubles while four overall had double-digit kills in the Indians� best hitting match of the season.

Tonya Deese was the star of the show for Newberry (7-8, 3-2 South Atlantic), recording 18 kills and hitting .256 with two service aces. Jessica Lipsi had 15 kills hitting .355 with 11 kills. Cara Coleman and Kristin Pulone had 12 kills apiece hitting .407 and .300, respectively. Pulone added 11 digs while Coleman had nine. Coleman also contributed five service aces to the match. Anglea Danley led Lenoir-Rhyne (8-8, 0-4 South Atlantic) with 23 kills, hitting .347.

�What a great win for us today,� said Newberry head coach Dr. Gylton Da Matta. �It was a close, hard-fought match and we never gave up. We played very well today, maintaining our composure when we got behind. Lenoir-Rhyne is a great team and they played a great match as well.�

Newberry got off to a slow start, hitting .065 in the first game while Lenoir-Rhyne hit .259. L-R had six service aces, five of which came from Logan Byrnes. Jamie Foster-Mann had three kills for the Indians while Cara Coleman had two service aces.

The Indians came alive in game two, hitting an impressive .381. Lipsi had eight kills in the game, hitting .667. Khoury had 16 assists in the game while Deese, Foster-Mann and Pulone had three kills each. Coleman and Deese each recorded one service ace in the game.

Newberry kept hitting well in game three, but Lenoir-Rhyne�s front line dominated as the Bears hit .433 to Newberry�s .231. Pulone had six kills and hit .857 in the game while Deese sprang to life with five kills. Neither team served well in the third set as L-R had one ace and six service errors and Newberry served up one ace and five errors.

Newberry hit a dominating .438 in game four as Coleman and Deese each had five kills. Newberry�s serving woes stopped as the Indians served up four aces with only one error but the same wasn�t true for Lenoir-Rhyne as the Bears had no aces and four service errors in the game. Pulone served two of the aces and Coleman and Laurie Barman teamed up for the Indians� lone block of the match. Khoury had 16 assists in the game.

Of the 15 lead changes in the match, five of the swaps came in the decisive game five as the two teams battled back and forth. Newberry never gave up as Deese again dominated with three kills, hitting .250 while Barman also notched three kills. Nine of Newberry�s 15 points came off kills and Foster-Mann added one service ace. Newberry closed the game on a 6-1 run that ended poignantly with a Khoury-Deese assist-kill combo that was so pervasive throughout the match.

Newberry next returns to action on Friday, Sept. 30 as they travel to Catawba in the Battle of the Indians at 7 p.m. Lenoir-Rhyne looks to record their first conference win as they host Tusculum at the same time.

                            Short Box Score (Match)
                        2005 Newberry Indian Volleyball
    Lenoir-Rhyne Bears vs Newberry Indians (Sep 24, 2005 at Newberry, S.C.)

  Newberry Indians def. Lenoir-Rhyne Bears 21-30,30-22,25-30,30-24,15-11

  Lenoir-Rhyne Bears (8-8, 0-4 SAC) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Angela Danley
  23-0-3; Kathryn Phillips 12-1-4; Abby Smith 11-0-3; Katie Sloan
  11-0-6; Logan Byrnes 6-7-0; Lauren McLelland 3-1-1; Kelsey Baby 0-1-1;
  Totals 66-10-10.0. (Assists) - Lauren McLelland 56. (Dig leaders) -
  Catherine Fulton 17; Logan Byrnes 12

  Newberry Indians (7-8, 3-2 SAC) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Tonya Deese
  18-2-0; Jessica Lipsi 15-1-0; Kristin Pulone 12-2-0; Cara Coleman
  12-5-1; Jamie Foster-Mann 8-1-0; Laurie Barman 5-0-1; Totals
  70-11-1.0. (Assists) - Alicia Khoury 63. (Dig leaders) - Kristin
  Pulone 11; Jessica Lipsi 11; Christy Stegall 10; Cara Coleman 9

  Site: Newberry, S.C. (Eleazer Arena)
  Date: Sep 24, 2005   Attend: 145   Time: 2:05   
  Referees: Alecia Spivey, Chris Hairston