Sandhills CC Volleyball Program - A Cradle of Coaches

Last Saturday's volleyball scrimmage between the Sandhills Community College team that will open a new season next week against Wake Tech, and an alumni squad, turned out to be not only a reunion of players, but a gathering of coaches.

Six of the former Lady Flyers that came from as far away as Minnesota for the friendly clash at Heins Gymnasium have already cut their teeth as volleyball coaches.

Watching four of her former players in action was North Carolina High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame member Barbara Foxx, who won a total of 723 games as the coach at Pinecrest High School, before retiring earlier this year.

"I was under coach Foxx for four years and learned a lot from her," said Ashleigh McKenzie, an all-conference setter for the Flyers who is now beginning her third season as one of head coach Alicia Riggan's assistants.  "And playing and coaching here I've learned a lot from Alicia. I miss playing so I try to do anything I can to stay involved."

Tiffany Hicks was the Region X Conference Player of the Year for the Lady Flyers in 2015. She is continuing her education at Central Carolina CC to become a dental hygienist and serving as an assistant varsity coach at North Moore High School.

Two-time all-region setter Cheyenne Brown will be the head junior varsity coach at the same high school this fall. She and teammate Holly Martindale were co-coaches of the High Falls Elementary School team in the spring of 2016.

Courtney Grant, an all-region outside hitter for the Flyers in 2015, will be an assistant coach at her alma mater, West Stanly High School, this fall. While pursuing her second degree at Sandhills, Kaylee Lopez-Rosario will be an assistant coach at Pinecrest after also serving as a coach for the AC Sandhills Club team.

And another former Flyer, Paige Horne, who did not attend the scrimmage, will also be an assistant coach at Pinecrest after completing her career as a player at Fayetteville State.

"It's awesome to know the majority of the girls have gone into coaching," said Riggan, who has been the head coach since the second year of the Flyers' volleyball program that began in 2008. "I know a big reason I went into coaching was because I missed playing so much. Whatever their reason is I hope I can help serve as a mentor and support them in whatever they do."

Among those representing the 10-player alumni squad were two of the original Lady Flyers in Pinecrest graduate Brittney Karshner and Minnesotan Amber Otkin.  Also suiting up were Peyton Wood from the 2014 team, who is pursuing a nursing degree from UNC-Pembroke, and Chandler Adams of the 2015 and 2016 squad, who will finish up her business degree in December. 

"You felt like 'I can help because I've done this'," Karshner said of reason for wanting to become a part of the first team in 2008. "Our coach Tabitha Crider was from Penn State and she was a great coach. And I was glad that I was here when Alicia came along the next year. I'm glad Sandhills has a volleyball program. It influences the girls to graduate and move on to other colleges or universities."

Otkin attended Sandhills while her husband Jeremy was stationed at Fort Bragg. She finished up her studies to become a registered nurse at South Dakota State University. Both she and Karshner have two children and had not played any volleyball in a long time.

"I came back to play," Otkin said when asked what motivated her to make the long journey.  "It's awesome to be here and see how the team has grown. I made some really good friends here and it seems like family. I thought we played pretty well considering we were playing with a lot of people I had never met."

The first point of the match came on a cross court slam by freshman Chelsea Green. The alums took their first lead on a left-handed smash by Hicks. The alums played very competitively for the first three of the five sets.

"They've still got it," Riggan said afterward.

As the fifth game wound down, McKenzie created a buzz when she flicked the ball with her right foot to keep a rally alive.

"It was fun playing against Cheyenne, Holly, Kaylee  and Chandler who I played with last year, said Paige Garner who was a first team all-region middle blocker as a freshman last season. "It was also fun that we won this year and the new players got to see how we all play together. I think we're going to have a strong squad."

Riggan also likes the combination of returnees and newcomers that she and assistants Kristin Hylton and McKenzie have to work with this season.

"We've had 10 days of practice and it was kind of nice to break it up and have a scrimmage to see what we look like in a game," the coach said. "We're definitely the tallest we've been and the depth is the most we've had. The girls did a lot of good things today and we got a chance to get that chemistry working.

"We have two scrimmages next week, including two against conference teams, before we bring on Wake Tech on August 23 so I'm really excited."

C.Bergmann