Lady Flyers Hand Patrick Henry First Region X Loss - Clinch Second Place

The Sandhills Community College volleyball team clinched second place in Region X on Saturday with a 25-22, 25-22 and 25-20 victory over Patrick Henry CC in the second match of the day between the two teams in Martinsville, Va.

The Patriots (18-3 overall, 11-1 Region X) clinched the conference regular season title by sweeping the Lady Flyers 16-25, 22-25 and 20-25 in the earlier match. Coach Alicia Riggan's squad (15-8, 9-3) winds up the regular season with a non-conference doubleheader at Piedmont International University at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. in Winston-Salem on Tuesday.

Sandhills hosts the conference tournament this coming Friday and Saturday at Heins Gymnasium.

"The girls knew going into the second match that it was for second place," Riggan said before practice on Monday at the Hangar.  "I told them they had to figure out a way to win. We were either up or tied, but never down in all three sets. The girls played the best Flyers' volleyball I had seen for an entire match."

The Flyers were successful on less than 10 percent of their attack attempts in Saturday's opener compared to 30 percent for the home team. Paige Garner led the Flyers with 12 kills. Erica Groff and Cheyenne Brown logged 15 digs apiece and Brown was also credited with 24 assists.

"The girls knew we didn't play well and they fixed it coming into the second match," the coach said.

Playing all the way around in the rotation, middle hitter Morgan McCarthy helped the Flyers turn things around in the second match as they handed the Patriots their first conference loss of the season. The freshman led the team in kills with 11 and digs with 18.

Chandler Adams and Holly Martindale contributed 14 digs each as the Patriots connected on only 15 per cent of their attack attempts. Brown added 30 more assists.

Heading into the one remaining conference match between Rockingham CC and Davidson County CC on Tuesday, the seeding for the conference tournament sorts out as follows: 1. Patrick Henry, 2. Sandhills, 3. Davidson, 4. Rockingham CC or Vance-Granville CC, 6. Central Carolina CC and 7. Danville CC.

C.Bergmann

Photo By: Donna Ford