Lady Flyers Soar on Sophomore Night

Prior to Thursday evening's volleyball match at the Hangar, Holly Martindale was concerned that some of her Sandhills Community College teammates might be feeling some of the same Sophomore Night jitters she was.

"I told Chandler (Adams) that we have to show the coaches that Sophomore Night is like any other night," the sophomore outside hitter recalled.

Sophomores Martindale, Adams, Cheyenne Brown and Kaylee Lopez-Rosario were all in the lineup as the Lady Flyers put on a clinic in jumping out to a 9-0 lead in the first set against Central Carolina CC. Brown was the server and Martindale had kills on the first two points, and four in all, during the opening burst.

Play was a bit ragged at times after that, but Coach Alicia Riggan's squad (13-6, 7-1 Region X) went on to sweep the Cougars (3-8, 2-6) 25-12, 25-18 and 25-16 in the conference clash. Next is a pair of non-conference tilts on Saturday afternoon at Johnson and Wales University in Charlotte against Surry CC at 2 p.m. followed by the host team at 4 p.m.

Riggan looked forward this year to another season with four players that helped the team win a school record 24 games a year ago. A nine-game winning streak set another team mark earlier this season.

"I can't remember the last time, maybe 2010, that we had four sophomores that had truly been here for two years," says the coach now in her eighth year leading the Flyers. "Cheyenne and Chandler were both starters as freshmen. Holly and Kaylee have been starters since day one this season.

"They are a huge part of the success we have had so far in our program. I depend on them to step up a lot because of their experience."

Martindale and Brown are products of North Moore High School. Adams prepped at Union Pines and Lopez-Rosario at Hoke County. They were introduced to the audience with family members before the start of the match. Lopez-Rosario, a libero and defensive specialist, was accompanied to the center of the court by her mother Eneida, and Kim Ware, a teammate on last year's squad. 

Coming off last year's record-breaking season, and being the first Flyer volleyball team to play in the new Heins Gymnasium, made it a good time to be a Lady Flyer.

"Coming from last year and breaking the record is definitely a lot to live up to," Lopez-Rosario says. "I think having the new gym has been more comfortable for us. I'm really happy I'm here."

The Lady Flyers trailed briefly for the only time in the match at 6-5, and later at 8-7, in the third set. Freshman middle hitter Paige Garner helped restore order with three kills in a four-point stretch to help the home team pull away for good.

Martindale and Garner finished with six kills each to lead the Flyers. Erica Groff and Adams led in digs with 14 and 10 respectively. Back to fulltime action for the first time since suffering a sprained ankle 11 matches ago, Brown recorded 19 assists.  A second-team all-region selection as a freshman she set a team record for assists with 852. Morgan McCarthy contributed four service aces.

Martindale was accompanied by her parents Bradley and Terry, her brother Jared and her grandmother Francis Martindale.

"They've given me great support all year long, they've been awesome" she says of her parents.  "My mom follows me everywhere. They just taught me to be a very open-minded person when it comes to sports and they've taught me to keep my head up."

The Flyers have conference dates remaining at Davidson County and at home against Vance-Granville next week before traveling to first place Patrick Henry CC (14-2, 10-0) for two matches a week from Saturday.

Riggan is concerned about the Flyers' tendency to play to their level of competition in recent weeks.

"You saw that a little in the third set," she said. "I look forward to this weekend because it's going to be an opportunity to play teams that are like Patrick Henry and play a fast-paced game. We just have to minimize our serving errors, pass the ball and put it down."

Another North Moore grad and sophomore, student coach Jacob Marley, was also honored. The National Anthem was performed by Ally Harvel.

C.Bergmann

Photo by Karen Manning