Lady Flyers Enjoy Beautiful Day at the Beach - Open Season at Richard Bland Next Week
The fourth season of beach volleyball at Sandhills Community College got underway on the home courts on Wednesday as the Lady Flyers hosted a a scrimmage against Wake Tech.
February weather can be unpredictable, but on this day it was just about perfect. Fifteen players saw action for Coach Alicia Riggan's squad. The scrimmage format was five rounds of 21-point matches on the four courts. The Lady Flyers gave a good account of themselves, finishing with a record of 14-6.
"It's just been fun on a beautiful day to be out here," Riggan said afterward. "It seems like everyone is smiling for the most part, we've seen some success and I feel they are doing a good job of keeping their composure. We had some spectators and we sold some concessions."
The first regular season event is a double header dual in Petersburg, VA next Thursday where the Lady Flyers will face Richard Bland College at 2 p.m. and at 4 p.m. A challenging 26-match schedule includes a trip to Tavares, FL for four matches on March 8-9.
The 17 NJCAA teams countrywide that compete in beach volleyball are all in one division. A national championship is scheduled for May 2-4 in Huntsville, AL.
With a dozen outdoor practices behind them, the Lady Flyers came into Wednesday's scrimmage ahead of the game as compared to previous seasons and it showed. Most of them got to play in four matches, linking up with different partners.
At 5-foot-5 and 5-4 respectively, freshmen Stephanie Harrell and Rachel Adams were an unlikely pairing, but used their quickness to cover the ground and won their match together convincingly.
"It's very energetic out here," Harrell, a product of South Johnston High School said. "It's fun because Rachel and I are roommates and also among the shorter ones on the team so it was cool that we won."
Competing on top of 16 inches of sand provides its challenges.
"It is definitely harder to move in the sand," Harrell said. "Sometimes if there is a divot you can trip, making it harder to chase after a ball."
Olivia Barlowe and Alexis Hinson played both indoors and outdoors as freshmen. As sophomores, they were a part of the Lady Flyers first beach only fall team. Playing with different partners throughout the afternoon, Barlowe, an outside hitter indoors, won three out of four of her matches. Hinson, a setter by trade, won all four of hers.
Asked if the almost nonstop schedule of indoor and outdoor volleyball practices and matches, as well as helping out with the Junior Flyers Beach Volleyball program during their almost two years at Sandhills ever gets old, they responded almost in unison with a resounding "no".
"No, never, I absolutely love it," Hinson said. "We love to be out here."
"Especially if you're having a bad day," Barlowe added. "You come out here and work it off. It's an outlet for us."
Riggan is being assisted by Holly Mandeville and Ryan Riggan. Other members of the squad include sophomore Dajsha Fields and freshman Lainey Mullins who earned All-Region 10 honors for the fall indoor season. Also, sophomores Emma Brown, Alyssa Maragelis and Ny'Asia McKinnon, and freshmen Caroline Bradford, Ayden Bullard, Zoey Hall, Cassidy Jewett, Nikki Lambert and Jenna Luquer.
"I feel like our girls' skill and endurance is moving in the right direction," Alicia Riggan said. "Today gave us the opportunity to fix some things before we open next week at Richard Bland and we had the opportunity to see which players are working better together."
C. Bergmann