Lady Flyers Thwart Upset Bid by the Cougars

The Sandhills Community College volleyball team fought off an inspired effort by underdog Central Carolina CC on Thursday and grabbed a 20-25, 25-22, 25-19,19-25 and 15-11 victory in Sanford.

Coach Alicia Riggan's squad improved to 6-0 in the conference and 13-6 overall. The Lady Cougars dropped to 0-3 and 0-10.

Freshman outside hitter Lexi Allen led the Lady Flyers with 22 kills and a season-high 26 digs in the Region 10 conference match.

"It was quite nerve-wracking there for a second, but I'm glad we pulled through," Allen, product of Pinecrest High School said afterward. "You have to give credit to the other team. We definitely could have played better, but they were giving it everything they had. They wanted to take it from us and I'm glad they didn't."

The Flyers hit the road on Friday for a tri-match in Richlands, VA on Saturday. They meet host Southwest Virginia CC (2-1, 3-5) in a conference match at noon.  At 2 p.m. they'll face a Division II Davidson-Davie CC squad (13-3) that swept them in Thomasville on Tuesday.

Against a Cougar team that has not defeated them since the series between the two schools began in 2009, the Lady Flyers led only briefly while dropping the first set.

They trailed 21-19 late in the second before running off six of the next seven points. The winner came on a swing from the second row by libero Shelby Hull that saw the ball clipping the net before finding the floor on the other side.

The Flyers appeared to be in control of the match when a kill by middle hitter Mackenzie Swett provided the final point of the third set. But five service errors, and 11 attack errors in the fourth, paved the way for the home team to tie the match at 2-2.

"They were going after everything," Allen said of the Cougars. "The drive and hustle were there and at times they outplayed us."

Finally, a service error by one of the Cougars, followed by a clever tip for a point by Mya Mallard, helped the Flyers pull away late in the tie-breaker set.

Other statistical leaders for the winners included Hull with 32 digs, and setters Camryn Lowe and Kaitlyn Locklear with 27 and 15 assists respectively.

"Central Carolina did a great job, but I don't think we played to our potential by any means," Riggan said. "I'm proud of the girls for fighting back, but we have to find some consistency. We didn't see it on Tuesday (loss to Davidson-Davie) and we didn't see it tonight.

"I think it's the part of the season where they've played so many games and they're tired. We leaned on Lexi tonight and she had a great game.

"We have to get a good night's sleep tonight and then get back in the gym. We have a Region 10 game on Saturday and we get to play Davidson again."

C. Bergmann