Lady Flyers Top Flying Eagles to Clinch Regular Season Conference Title
The Sandhills Community College volleyball team clinched the first seed and home court for the Region 10 tournament in two weeks with a 25-14, 25-17, 21-25 and 27-25 victory over Southwest Virginia CC in Richlands, VA on Saturday.
The Lady Flyers improved to 7-0 in Region 10 with one conference match remaining at home against Patrick Henry CC next Saturday. They are 14-7 overall after falling 20-25, 16-25 and 27-29 to Division II Davidson-Davie CC in the second game of the tri-match.
Coming off a stretch of six matches on the road in eight days, Coach Alicia Riggan's squad entertains Guilford Tech at 6 p.m. on Thursday. That will be the team's annual Pink Out Night.
The regular season concludes with the final conference match on Saturday at the Hangar against Patrick Henry CC. It will also be Sophomore Day.
"We are all excited for a few days off thanks to Fall Break at Sandhills," Riggan said. "So we will take a break from practice until Wednesday.
"It's that part of the season where you're tired and you're body hurts. This break couldn't come at a better time to rest and refocus."
The Lady Flyers won the first two sets against Southwest Virginia handily before running into trouble. After dropping the third set they found themselves knotted up at 24-24 and 25-25 in the fourth before squeaking out the 3-1 victory. The home team dropped to 3-2 in the conference with the loss.
Lexi Allen and KeKe Lawrence led an efficient Flyers' attack with 19 and 12 kills respectively. Setters Camryn Lowe (29) and Kaitlyn Locklear (16) were credited with a combined 45 assists. The leaders in digs were libero Shelby Hull with 16 and defensive specialist L'Asia Jackson with 11.
In a match that began about an hour later, Davidson-Davie swept the Flyers for the second time this week.
The Flyers were a point away from extending the match, leading 25-24 in the third, before losing in the highest scoring set of the season for both teams.
Allen recorded a team-high 12 kills. Lowe was credited with 24 assists. The leaders in digs were Hull (15), Locklear (12) and Allen (11).
The Flyers served tough throughout the two matches, recording a total of 10 aces while committing only three service errors. Davidson-Davie, now 15-3, defeated the host team 3-0 in the final match of the day.
"I'm proud of the girls today for what they are accomplishing and we are not done yet," Riggan said. "I told them tonight in the locker room they have accomplished one of the goals they set at the beginning of season."
The Region 10 tournament is scheduled to be held at The Hangar on Saturday, October 23.
C. Bergmann