Lady Flyers' Win Streak Snapped by at Eight by Trojans

The Sandhills Community College volleyball team won an exciting opening set against Fayetteville Tech, and took an early 10-point lead in the second, before falling 25-23, 22-25, 15-25 and 18-25 on Wednesday at The Hangar.

The loss snapped the Lady Flyers' eight-match winning streak. They take a record of 10-5 overall, and 3-0 in the conference, into Saturday's conference tri-match at Patrick Henry CC in Martinsville, VA. 

Coach Alicia Riggan's squad is scheduled to face Patrick Henry (0-5, 0-1) at 11 a.m. and Rockingham CC (1-7, 0-1) at 1 p.m. They defeated Rockingham in a tri-match at home eleven days ago.

Seven service errors by the Trojans proved to be the difference in the hotly contested first set. Tied at 23-23, the final two points came on kills by the Flyers' right-side Savanna Lowery.

The second set began with a service ace by the Flyers' Abby Quick. Later, points off a solo block and then a kill by middle hitter KeKe Lawrence made it 7-0. After the Trojans got on the board, the margin grew to 13-3 on three consecutive service aces by L'Asia Jackson.

Following a timeout, the visitors outscored the Flyers 14-4 to draw even at 17-17 on the way to tying up the match at a set apiece. With the Flyers ahead 3-0 early in the third set, the Trojans began taking control by scoring nine points in a row.

"They (Trojans) call a timeout and they never looked back," Riggan said. "They fed right off that energy into the next set and the next set after that. We never got back into a groove.

"They have a scrappy team with big hitters, but I felt we matched up well with them. The goal of it was that the team that made the least amount of errors was going to win and that proved to be true."

The Division II Trojans improved to 10-2. Lawrence, Maddie Harris and Lexi Allen led the Flyers in kills with six apiece. Lawrence added four solo blocks. Camryn Lowe was the assist leader with 15.

Quick was credited with 11 digs to lead in that department. Jackson added four service aces to her fifth in Division III total of 42.  

The next six Flyers' matches are on the road. The next home contest is against Guilford Tech on October 14.

C. Bergmann