Lady Flyers Begin Second Season of Beach Volleyball With a Loss at St. Andrews
The second season of the sport of beach volleyball at Sandhills Community College got underway on Tuesday with a 5-0, 5-0 loss to St. Andrews University at a double match held in Laurinburg.
In her office at the Dempsey Student Center before a practice on Wednesday, Lady Flyers Coach Alicia Riggan sensed that a group of players that won 18 of 19 matches during a late-season stretch of the indoor season last fall, were feeling disheartened by the losses.
"Being very successful this past fall, that's just the type of players they are," she said prior to heading for the sand courts. "I tried to tell them that these girls (St. Andrews) are on scholarships and they play year-around.
"We've been working so hard since February and they've gotten so much better. We had some really tight sets that went to extra points and and a couple went to three sets."
The Lady Flyers return to action next Friday and Saturday at the Flyers Invitational, hosting Spartanburg Methodist CC at noon on Friday and Bob Jones University (SC) at 4 p.m.
On Saturday, the Flyers play Bob Jones at 10 a.m. and Spartanburg Methodist at 2 p.m. Spartanburg Methodist and Bob Jones will also play each other twice during the two full days of beach action.
The match scheduled for this Friday at Wake Tech has been canceled.
Tuesday's matches were the 23rd and 24th of the season for the second-year Knights, who are affiliated with the NAIA, and have now won four in a row.
Camryn Lowe, Mya Mallard and Abby Quick are the only members of this Lady Flyers team that dropped a 3-2 decision to St. Andrews a year ago in the program's first-ever outdoor match. At the Flyers Invitational, week later, Riggan's squad picked up its first victories over Spartanburg Methodist and Wake Tech.
Tuesday's highlights included two three-set matches involving the Flyer duo of Quick and Maddie Harris, and two-set matches that included games the teams of Lexi Allen and Lowe, and Mallard and Kayla Sadowski. extended to extra points.
Quick, a product of Scotland High School in Laurinburg, knew going in that the match experience of the Knights was going to be difficult to overcome.
"Even though this was their 23rd game," she said, "my partner and I were still right with them, so I think moving on in the season we're just going to get a lot better."
As members of last year's team already knew, the challenge of covering the court with two players, and the energy required to maneuver in the sand, require major adjustments from the indoor game.
For freshman Mackenzie Swett, a middle blocker indoors, the match was a first opportunity to get a feel for a regular season match played on a sand court. Her coach was impressed by a solo block she made, not a common occurrence in the two-player outdoor game.
"Whereas indoors I was here to block and hit, out there you have to pass, serve and do everything," the freshman from Purnell Swett High School said before heading for the sand courts. "There is stuff you can do in here you can't do out there and vice versa.
"I'm partners with JaLasia (Ray) and I told coach that we were doing all we could, but we couldn't pull out the win."
A highlight of the first match in Laurinburg for Riggan was seeing Ray, a freshman from Hoke County, play in a match for the first time after missing the entire fall season because of a knee injury.
The Flyer squad also includes freshmen L'Asia Jackson, Kaitlyn Locklear and Keke Lawrence.
If her players were disappointed by the outcome of the two matches, Riggan let them know before Wednesday's practice that she saw plenty to be encouraged by. She and St. Andrews Coach Tessa Smith both noted the progress made by their respective teams since they scrimmaged last November.
"It was just a great opportunity to play somebody besides your teammates and now to see what they need to do better," Riggan said. "This game is so different and they saw that out there.
"We're so proud of them. I thought they did a great job and we're excited to get back in the sand with them today and get better."
First Match – St. Andrews 5, Sandhills 0 - #1 Lauren Gauna/Elizabeth Schmidt (SAU) def. Lexi Allen/Camryn Lowe (SCC) 22-20, 21-17; #2 Parker Venable/Alexis Gordon def. (SAU) def. Kaitlyn Locklear/L'Asia Jackson (SCC) 21-15, 21-6; #3 Kaitlyn Ybarra/Abby Benekus (SAU) def. Abby Quick/Maddie Harris (SCC) 21-12, 15-21, 15-12; #4 Bailey Zivitski/Cheyenne Bowman (SAU) def. Mya Mallard/Kayla Sadowski (SCC) 22-20, 21-13; #5 Samantha Byrd/Kyra McKinney (SAU) def. JaLasia Ray/MacKenzie Swett (SCC) 21-15, 21-14.
Second Match – St. Andrews 5, Sandhills 0 - #1 Gauna/Schmidt (SAU) def. Allen/Lowe (SCC) 22-16, 21-7; #2 Venable/Gordon (SAU) def. Locklear/Jackson (SCC) 21-12, 21-6; #3 Ybarra/Cox/Emily Cox def. Quick/Harris (SCC) 19-21, 21-15, 15-13; #4 Zivitski/Bowman (SAU) def. Mallard/Sadowski (SCC) 23-21, 21-17; #5 Byrd/McKinney (SAU) def. Ray/Swett (SCC) 21-11, 21-11.
C. Bergmann