Lady Flyers Win One For Lexi
With the Sandhills and Southwest Virginia Community College volleyball teams knotted up at 15-15 in their first set on Saturday at The Hangar, the Lady Flyers' Lexi Allen lost her balance going up to strike a ball and fell awkwardly to the floor.
"When Lexi fell so hard, it seemed like all of the air went out of the building," Coach Alicia Riggan said afterward. "Lexi is a leader for us and she's a captain. She plays all the way around and has always been on the court for us."
The 5-foot-10 freshman was helped to the locker room with an ankle injury and returned on crutches in time to watch her team complete a 28-26, 25-17 and 25-18 sweep of the Lady Eagles from Richlands, VA.
"I couldn't be more proud of the girls and the level of intensity they played with," Riggan said later. "They never backed off even when they lost the lead.
"Every time we had a time out they'd say 'we're doing it for Lexi'. It's very inspiring as a coach to see your team doing that."
Earlier, on their first home match day of the season, the Flyers defeated Rockingham CC 25-13, 25-16 and 25-16 in the opener of the Region 10, Division III tri-match.
Southwest Virginia defeated Rockingham 25-27, 25-16, 25-23, 25-27 and 15-6 in the middle clash of the day.
Xrays taken later indicated there was no break, but Allen's availability is questionable for the Lady Flyers, now 5-4, conference match at home against Central Carolina CC, 0-7, on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
Allen, a product of Pinecrest High School, is third in NJCAA Division III in kills per game (3.87). She was credited with 17 along with nine digs in the sweep of Rockingham. Middle hitter KeKe Lawrence contributed nine kills and four solo blocks,
Camryn Lowe (25) and Kaitlyn Locklear (14) combined for 39 assists. Shelby Hull was the leader in digs with 11. L'Asia Jackson, who is 10th in Division III in service aces, contributed five to the Flyer cause.
Later, no more than two points separated the Flyers and Southwest Virginia in the first set, following Allen's injury. The Lady Eagles were leading 23-22 when she returned to the bench.
Shelby Hull, who moved up from the libero position to outside hitter, tied it up with a kill. Lowe then set up Lawrence twice for kills as the home team took the 1-0 lead.
"We had Shelby change out of the libero uniform and put her on the outside where she played at Union Pines," Riggan said. "The girls figured out a way to grab that first set which I thought was a key, leading into that second set."
With middle hitters Lawrence and Mackenzie Swett neutralizing the Eagle's Ann Frisk, who had a big game against Rockingham, right/side Mya Mallard, who was credited with a team-high 12 kills, provided a spark in the second-set win. After taking a 4-3 lead in the third set, the Flyers never trailed again.
Mackenzie and KeKe did a great job in the middle, focusing and doing their job which had to frustrate the other side," Riggan said.
Rockingham dropped to 0-6 with the two losses. Southwest Virginia is 2-5 after the split.
Maddie Harris, a starter at outside hitter, was another Flyer who took up some of the slack from Allen's absence, accounting for five kills in each of Saturday's matches.
"I feel with Lexi's injury everybody stepped up and played their role," she said. "I'm just proud of our team because I thought we all played for each other. It was a great team win and I hope we have many more."
Lowe added: "I think it was exciting to see the way we all stepped up to the plate. It took all of us working together and coming together as a whole. I think we really did it for Lexi tonight."
High school players from Pinecrest, Union Pines, The O'Neal School and North Moore were among those that accepted the invitation to attend the games on Senior Day at The Hangar.
"Hopefully watching our girls and seeing them pull together excites them about our program," Riggan said. "It was great to have fans again."
C. Bergmann