Lady Flyers Fall to Eagles - Pink Out on Thursday vs. Cougars
The Sandhills Community College volleyball team will try to wrap up the regular-season Region 10 title when it entertains Central Carolina Community College on Pink Out Night at 6 p.m. on Thursday.
Ranked No. 10 in this week's NJCAA Division III rankings, the Lady Flyers were defeated 20-25, 25-22, 19-25 and 18-25 by Division II Wake Tech on Tuesday at The Hangar.
Coach Alicia Riggan's squad dropped to 14-11 on the season while the Lady Eagles improved to 12-3.
The Lady Flyers take a record of 6-0 in Region 10 into the match against the 5-2 and 6-8 overall Cougars. The Lady Flyers came from behind to prevail in five sets in the first meeting between the two teams in Sanford on September 20.
"We went five sets with them the last time and I'm sure they're going to be excited to play us," Riggan said. "Hopefully we'll have a good crowd and everybody will be wearing pink."
The fund raising for the annual Pink Out Night began 12 years ago to support the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. In recent years the funds raised have been used to support a local family.
In Tuesday's match, that featured some of the season's longest rallies, the Lady Flyers jumped out to early leads in three of the four sets, but season highs in service errors and blocking errors helped fuel the Eagle comebacks.
Led by outside hitter Dajsha Fields with four kills, the Lady Flyers led 15-14 in the first set before the visitors took advantage of a series attack errors to run off five points in a row on the way to the 1-0 lead.
A service ace by Alyssa Maragelis gave the home team a 9-2 lead early in the second set before the Eagles rallied again to tie it up at 13-13. Later knotted up at 22-22, a kill by Mackenzie Swett, a big block by KeKe Lawrence, and then a kill by Lawrence off an assist by Alexis Hinson, evened the match at 1-1.
After trailing most of the way in dropping the third set, the Lady Flyers led 9-5 in the fourth before allowing three service aces during a run of nine points in row that put the visitors in command.
"We gave them too many second chances," Riggan said. "Sooner or later a good team is going to figure out how to put the ball down."
The Lady Flyers were led in kills by Lawrence and Fields with nine each, and Swett with eight. Setter Lannah Huneycutt was credited with 19 assists, 15 digs and three service aces. Libero L'Asia Jackson added 28 digs to her sixth in Division III season total of 401.
The No. 1 ranked team in this week's Division III rankings is Butler CC (PA) with a record of 16-2.
Prior to the match, Coach Herb Pike presented Scotty Foley with the championship ring she earned by winning the individual title at the inaugural NJCAA Division III Women's Golf Championship last June in Chautauqua, NY. Teammate Ava Ray, who was the runner-up, was also in attendance.
Region 10 Standings: Sandhills 6-0, Central Carolina 5-2, Rockingham 4-3, Caldwell Tech 3-4, Patrick Henry 1-4, Southwest Virginia 0-6.
C. Bergmann
