Lady Flyers Punch Their Ticket for District Tournament in Western Pennsylvania
The Sandhill's Community College volleyball team completed a two-year domination of Region X on Saturday by defeating Central Carolina CC and host Patrick Henry CC for the Region X Tournament Championship.
The Lady Flyers improved to 23-3 while extending their winning streak to 18 matches in a row. They will have a two-week wait before traveling to Butler, Pa. for the District I-J tournament on November 2-3. Patrick Henry also made the six-team field as the Region X runner-up.
The winner and runner-up from the district tournament qualifies for the NJCAA Division III National Championship in Rochester, Minn. on November 8-10.
Coach Alicia Riggan's squad has one final regular season game remaining at Johnson and Wales in Charlotte on October 29.
The Flyers compiled a season-best hitting percentage of .500 in Saturday morning's 25-11, 25-17 and 25-13 win against Central Carolina. Middle-blocker Tee'Ashia Lilly was credited with 15 kills in 20 attempts and outside hitter Kaitlyn Lisenby was successful on 12 out of 16.
Setter, Abby Wallace, who was voted Region X Player of the Year, was credited with 40 assists. Libero Shaedyn Housh contributed 12 digs and four service aces. Right-side Rachael Mashburn had five kills, 11 digs and four aces.
"The girls were super-aggressive at the net," Riggan said afterward by phone. "We've done that all season, but especially toward the end. The difference is that everybody is working together."
The Flyers extended their two-year winning streak in Region X play to 22 matches, all sweeps, with a 25-13, 25-19 and 25-12 victory over Patrick Henry for the tournament title. The leaders in kills were Lisenby with 13 and Lilli Inman with 11.
Mashburn added five more aces. The 36 assists by Wallace gave her 861 for the season. That broke the team single-season record of 852 set by Cheyenne Brown in 2015.
"There was never a time when we were behind," Riggan said. "We did a great job with our serving and kept them out of their system. The girls just did a great job of keeping control of the match."
Other awards announced during the long day in Martinsville, Va. included All-Region X first-team honors for sophomores Lilly and Lisenby, and freshmen Housh and Inman.
Looking ahead, the regional assignments for district play were changed for this season. The two teams from Region X will be joined by two from Region 12 that covers part of Michigan and Ohio, and two from Region 20, that includes teams from Maryland and Pennsylvania.
Those regions will determine their district qualifiers in tournaments held next weekend.
C.Bergmann