Lady Flyers Take Two in Virginia - Host the Storm on Tuesday

The Sandhills Community College volleyball team takes a three-match winning streak and a record of 9-5 into Tuesday's 6 p.m. contest at The Hangar against a Davidson-Davie Community College squad that is off to a 9-1 start.

The No. 7 ranked in NJCAA DIII Lady Flyers won both ends of a double match in Martinsville, VA on Saturday, defeating host Patrick Henry 25-23, 26-24 and 33-31 in their Region conference opener that lasted almost two hours.

With a lapse of just over 30 minutes between games, Coach Alicia Riggan's squad then swept DII Louisburg 25-16, 25-20 and 25-22.

In Saturday's thrilling opener, the first of the three sets decided by two points, ended on a service ace by the Flyers' Sydney Garner. They trailed 22-14 late in the second set before a long service run by Alyssa Maragelis that included consecutive aces helped close the gap to 22-20.

The Lady Flyers overcame two set points and finally caught up at 24-24 on a kill by Caroline Bradford before moments later a win at the net by Ny'Asia McKinnon gave them a 2-0 lead.

The marathon third set was tied 20 times, and the Flyers overcame six set points, before a kill by Cassidy Jewett completed the sweep.

Dajsha Fields and Caroline Bradford led the Flyers in kills with nine and seven respectively. Garner was credited with 24 assists and libero Lainey Mullins was the defensive leader with 27 digs. McKinnon was credited with three solo blocks.

The Lady Flyers led most of the way against Louisburg, prevailing in tight second and third sets. Nine different Flyers recorded kills led by Fields with four. Garner notched 11 assists and Mullins was credited with a team-high 10 digs.

Playing in her third match since returning from an injury, Lannah Huneycutt, an All-Region 10 selection as a freshman, was credited with nine digs and five assists.

Louisburg (1-4) picked up its first win of the season by defeating Patrick Henry (1-7) 3-2 in the final match of the day.

In addition to Sandhills and Patrick Henry, the DIII, Region 10 conference includes a Caldwell Tech team that is off to a 12-2 start and 0-3 Central Carolina CC.  The Flyers were defeated 3-0 at Davidson on August 19. 

C. Bergmann