Season Ends for Lady Flyers with a District Semi-Final Loss to Lorain CC

For the second year in a row the Sandhills Community College volleyball team fell one victory short of qualifying for the NJCAA Division III National Championship held in Rochester, Minn.

The season ended with a 14-25, 18-25 and 25-27 loss to Lorain CC of Elyria, Ohio in one of Saturday's District I/J semi-final matches held at Butler CC in Butler, Pa. Owens CC (OH), the No. 1 ranked team in the nation, swept the host college in the other semi-final.

Later Saturday, Owens (37-6) went on to defeat Region 12 rival Lorain (22-11) 25-20, 25-8 and 25-10 in the championship match for the district title. Both the champion and runner-up qualified for the 12-team national tournament field.

The Flyers made it to Saturday's semi-final by defeating Anne Arundel and losing to Owens in Friday's pool play. Coach Alicia Riggan's squad finished the season with a record of 24-5 that included Region X regular season and tournament titles.

Saturday's match against Lorain was characterized by frequent long rallies. Led by libero Shaedyn Housh with 28, six Flyers recorded nine or more digs, including Lilli Inman, 18, Abby Wallace 15, Rachael Mashburn 13, Kaitlyn Lisenby, 11 and Chelsea Green, nine. 

Inman led the team with 11 kills and Wallace was credited with 36 assists.

The Flyers were ranked No. 10 in last week's NJCAA Division III national poll. Sophomore's Lisenby, Mashburn, Green, Wallace, Tee'Ashia Lilly, Jordan Ward and Kiana Brown helped compile a two-year record of 51 wins and 11 losses.

C.Bergmann