Lady Flyers Fall to Cobras in Region 10 Title Match
The season may have come to an end for the Sandhills Community College volleyball team on Saturday afternoon with a 20-25, 14-25, 25-22 and 13-25 loss to Caldwell Tech in the championship match of the Region 10 tournament.
Earlier in the day at host Central Carolina Community College in Sanford, the Lady Flyers advanced to the title game by sweeping Patrick and Henry 25-23, 25-19 and 25-23. Co-regular season Region 10 champions with Caldwell, Coach Alicia Riggan's squad completed the season with a record of 6-2 in Region 10 and 20-9 overall.
The Cobras, 20-5, advance to the Mid-Atlantic District Tournament where they will face Butler CC, 18-5, in Butler, PA on Saturday. The winner earns a spot in the NJCAA Division III National Tournament held in Cedar Rapids, IA on November 9-11. The No. 5 ranked Lady Flyers are hoping to receive one of four at large bids to nationals.
"It just didn't feel like our consistency was there today," Riggan said of her team's play in Saturday's matches. "We were up and down. It was hard to find a balance."
The day began with Caldwell, sweeping the host Lady Cougars. The Lady Flyers followed their sweep of Patrick and Henry.
Sophomore Dajsha Fields, who was later named to the All-Region 10 team along with freshmen teammates Lainey Mullins and Caroline Bradford, put together an all-around effort that produced 13 kills and 13 digs. Mullins was credited with 15 digs and six service aces. Sophomore Ny'Asia McKinnon contributed eight kills and three solo blocks.
The Lady Flyers had only about a 50 minute break before taking on the No. 9 Cobras.
The first set was tied at 17-17 before the Cobras pulled away and then took the one-sided second for a 2-0 lead.
"In that first set I thought we were playing not to lose," Riggan said. "When we got our jitters out I thought maybe we were ready for the second set. They (Cobras) came out ready and it never felt like we were quite ready."
Tied at 20-20 in the third set, a service ace by Mullins, and a kill by freshman Cassidy Jewett, led to another kill by Fields to close it out and keep Flyers' hopes alive. But the Cobras jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the fourth on the way to closing out the match.
Mullins and freshman Nicole Lambert led the Flyers in digs with 36 and 15 respectively. Fields led the team with nine kills and freshman Sydney Garner led in assists with 17.
The Cobras' Laney Craig, who was named the Region 10 Player of the Year, recorded 31 kills.
In addition to Fields and McKinnon, the games could be the final ones indoors as Lady Flyers for sophomores Emma Brown, Lannah Huneycutt, and Alyssa Maragelis.
"I don't feel we played the best we can play," Riggan said. "We were polished, we were prepared and we were ready, but we just didn't execute. My hat is off to a great team and I think Caldwell is going to represent our region really well at districts next week."
C. Bergmann
