Lady Flyers Tame Cougars in Five-set Conference Thriller

The Sandhills Community College volleyball team overcame three match points in the fourth set and went on to defeat Central Carolina Community College 23-25, 25-15, 20-25, 30-28 and 15-11 in Sanford on Tuesday evening.

Almost two hours into the Region 10 match, the teams were tied at 9-9 in the tiebreaker set when Lady Flyers setter Lannah Huneycutt assisted on a kill by middle hitter Mackenzie Swett. Moments later kills by outside hitter Olivia Barlowe, and Swett again, wrapped up the team's fourth victory in a row.

In the early season battle for the conference lead, Coach Alicia Riggan's squad improved to 2-0 in Region 10 and 10-8 overall. The Cougars dropped to 3-1 and 4-6.

"I was really proud of the girls, especially in that fourth set the way they battled and battled," Riggan said afterward. "I saw a lot of good things from both teams. The effort from all of the girls was unmatched."

Ranked No. 14 in this week's NJCAA Division III poll, the Lady Flyers return to action on Saturday when they meet Caldwell Tech at noon and host Southwest Virginia CC at 2 p.m. in a conference tri-match held in Cedar Bluff, VA.

On an evening that saw many lead changes, the Lady Flyers lost the first set in spite of leading at one point 16-8. Led by Keke Lawrence with five, and Madison Brower with three, five different players were credited with kills as they tied the match at 1-1 in a one-sided second set.

The third set was tied at 15-15 before the Cougars pulled away to take the 2-1 lead, setting up the furious finish.

Trailing 6-1 early in the fourth set, freshman Alyssa Maragelis served two aces in a row during a stretch of nine straight points that gave the Lady Flyers a 10-6 lead. The home team drew even at 15-15, before freshman outside hitter Olivia Barlowe, seeing her first action in the match, contributed four kills as her team took a 24-20 lead.

"I've been putting in the work before and after practice and I really felt I helped the team today," said Barlowe, a product of Parkwood High School.

But the Cougars scored the next five points to come within their first match-point of ending the match. Twice kills by freshman outside JaLasia Ray helped keep the Lady Flyers hopes alive. Moments later, a win at the net by Lawrence put them ahead before a miss-hit by one of the Cougars sent it to a tie-breaker set.

The tense finale was tied up four times before a kill by Swett, from Huneycutt, put the Flyers in front 10-9. Later, a service ace by Alexis Hinson made it 13-9. The final two points came on kills by Barlowe and Swett.

The Lady Flyers enjoyed the edge upfront in the middle where Lawrence (12) and Swett (7) combined for 19 kills and six block solos. Ray contributed 10 kills and Barlowe and Brower added 6 each.

The leaders in assists were Huneycutt with 34 and Hinson with 12. The long rallies produced 116 digs for the winners led by L'Asia Jackson 27, Maragelis 19, Huneycutt 16, Abby Quick 14 and Hinson 13. Jackson and Huneycutt were each also credited with three service aces.

According two Riggan, Swett, a Purnell Swett High School grad, has been benefiting from putting in extra time with Assistant Coach Holly Mandeville in the morning before practice and classes.

"For us to dig deep and come back after being so low shows that our team has heart," Swett said. "We have a lot of fight in us and that's what matters at the end of the day."

Barlowe echoed those thoughts.

"This one was really intense," she said. "We relied on each other and pulled through."

C. Bergmann