Lady Flyers Sweep Davidson With a Balanced Team Effort
The Sandhills Community College volleyball team was sharp at the start and at the finish on the way to a 25-15, 25-20 and 25-14 sweep of Davidson County CC on Tuesday at the Hangar.
The Lady Flyers take a record of 2-2 into the Dragon Invitational on Saturday and Sunday in Columbia, MD. Beginning with a match against Community College of Rhode Island at 11 a.m. they will play a minimum of four times at the event hosted by Howard Community College.
Plagued by attacking woes in their first three matches of the season last week, Coach Alicia Riggan's squad had 14 kills and only two hitting errors in the first set. The kill percentage of 31.6 in the first set, and 18.9 for the match, was a marked improvement over the combined total of 10.6 per cent over the previous three matches.
"Our hitting percentage has been killing us and the crazy thing is that we've still been in all of the games," Riggan said. "Even tonight there was a big difference between set one and set two. We haven't shown our true potential in terms of consistency."
Led by outside hitters Chelsea Green, Kaitlyn Lisenby and Rachel Mashburn with three apiece, five different Flyers racked up kills in the first set. The home team was much less efficient in a second set in which it trailed 20-18 before running off the final seven points with Mashburn at the serving line.
Members of the Flyers basketball, and men's and women's track, cross country and golf teams helped supply plenty of energy in the building on Student Night. In between the second and third sets, members of the first-year men's and women's track and field teams coached by Jef Moody were presented with the individual awards earned last May at the NJCAA Division III Track and Field Championships.
"Their accomplishments in their first season were incredible," Riggan said afterward. "We were so excited to kind of be a part of that tonight on Student Night."
When play resumed, Green and Mashburn had kills as the Flyers took a quick 4-1 lead in the third set. Later, leading 8-6, a kill by outside hitter Ivy Futrell set off a 14-4 run of points that all but wrapped things up. Middle blocker Tee'Ashia Lilly served for five points in a row and had two kills in that stretch to cap a strong all-around game.
"We work on hitting a lot," the product of North Moore High School said. "When we have good passes, we'll always be a strong hitting team."
Green led the Flyers in kills with seven followed by Mashburn, Lisenby and Lilly with five each. Setter Abby Wallace was credited with 22 assists and 10 digs. Libero Shaedyn Housh finished with 17 digs.
"I'm glad we took care of business in three sets and were able to get everybody in," Riggan said. "Everybody we put in seemed to do their job which is what we want. Now we have a big weekend and we have to be ready."
Flyer Notes – The Flyers will also face Beaver County (PA) at 1 p.m. and Howard on Sunday at 11 a.m. in the pool phase of the eight-team Dragon Invitational. Coach Moody, Daniel Taylor, Alex Worley, Emily Doorey, Sara Lindell, Andrew Bowen and Claudette Smith were the track and field team members honored. Not able to attend were Tyrese Kelly and Anjel Rowe. Kelly, Taylor and Worley earned All-American honors and Doorey was an Honorable-Mention All-American.
C.Bergmann