Lady Flyers Fall To Patrick Henry in Region X Title match
A four hour tension-packed rollercoaster ride for the Sandhills Community College volleyball team ended in a five-set loss to Patrick Henry CC in the championship match of the NJCAA Region X Tournament held at Heins Gymnasium Saturday afternoon.
Starting out at 1 p.m. the Lady Flyers defeated Davidson County CC 25-15, 20-25, 25-23, 24-26 and 15-6 in a semi-final match. Following about a 40 minute break they went back at it again against the regular season champion Patriots who swept Vance-Granville earlier in the day in the first semi.
The squad from Martinsville, Va. then prevailed 25-23, 17-25, 24-26, 25-20 and 10-15 over the Flyers to grab its second Region X title in a row.
A few statistics put in perspective just how competitive an afternoon it was at the Hangar. Flyer libero Erica Groff was credited with a total of 85 digs including a team single-match record of 49 against Davidson. Setter Cheyenne Brown finished the day with 85 assists. Outside hitter Chandler Adams contributed 32 kills and 43 digs, and middle hitter Paige Garner recorded 28 kills.
"Those were Incredible stats from the girls," Flyers' coach Alicia Riggan said. "The rallies were incredible and the intensity was amazing."
There was little doubt before the first serve that the Sandhills-Davidson contest would be a battle. The two teams split a pair of four-set regular season matches.
Leading 2-1 in sets Saturday, the Flyers were in a good position to also close this one out in four. They led 23-19 when the Storm won the longest rally of the tournament, and then five of the next six points, to extend the match to the tie-breaker set.
"Luckily we had already won two sets, so I was feeling confident," Groff said. "Going to five sets is just part of the game. That's the beauty of volleyball. It's back and forth and you never know what is going to happen."
For Riggan a key to winning a tie-breaker set is to be the first to five and 10 points.
"We just had to figure out a way to get into the championship game," she said.
With Brown serving, the Flyers took a 5-0 lead and then extended the margin to 11-4, on Leah Salzwedel's sixth service ace of the match. Later Garner sent a short Storm return straight down for her 14th kill of the match and the 15th point that put them in the title game against Patrick Henry.
The Patriots had won 23 Region X volleyball matches in a row before the Lady Flyers swept them in the second half of a doubleheader in Martinsville the previous Saturday.
With little time to unwind, the Flyers found themselves in a first set against the Patriots that was tied for the 14th time at 23-23 before a service ace by Groff led to a 25-23 win. The Patriots won the second set by a comfortable margin, but it was back to white-knuckle time in the third and fourth.
Trailing 23-22 in the third, back-to-back kills by Adam's gave the Flyers a 24-23 lead, but the Patriots went on to pull it out, scoring the final point on a serve that skimmed the net and dropped on the other side.
The Flyers fought off a Patriot comeback in the fourth set with the help of kills by Adams and Martindale before a smash off a set from Brown by Morgan McCarthy sent them into another tie-breaker. But this time it was the Patriots that were the first to five and 10 and 15.
Adams was one of four sophomores to play in their final matches for the Flyers along with Brown, Martindale and Kaylee Lopez-Rosario. Her 18 kills against Davidson, and 26 digs against Patrick Henry, were both career highs. She was asked if she ever experienced a volleyball test like this one.
"No, because that was 10 games we just played," she said. "It was ridiculous. I was tired after the first match, but we pushed through it and I think we did an excellent job no matter what."
Going into the second tiebreaker, Riggan was confident the first place trophy would soon belong to the Lady Flyers who finished the season with a record of 19-9 overall and 11-3 in Region X contests.
"I thought we had them," she said. "The girls fought hard and I'm proud of each of them. I think our returners have unfinished business to take care of next year.
"When you think about the hours and energy spent going into today, and the awesome volleyball played by all the teams, I feel very fortunate to get to do what I do."
Patrick Henry (20-4, 12-1 Region X) earned the right to host the District H tournament this coming Saturday. Region X awards were announced at the tournament banquet on Friday. Garner was an all-region first team selection. Brown, Groff and McCarthy were named to the second team.
Sandhills athletic director Aaron Denton thought the well-attended event was a success all around.
"It's hard not to think about how our ladies and coaches are feeling right now," he said moments after the presentation of the champion and runner-up trophies. "But it was a day of action-packed, fantastic volleyball games. The people who were here enjoyed watching it no matter who they were pulling for."
C.Bergmann
Photo By: Donna Ford
