Lady Flyers Upset No. 1 Butler - Advance to National Tournament

The Sandhills Community College volleyball team upset No. 1 ranked Butler County CC on Saturday in the Mid-Atlantic District tournament held at The Hangar, earning a trip to the NJCAA Division III Championship held in Rochester, MN on November 10-12.

No. 2 ranked Owens CC of Perrysburg, Ohio, the winner of the last three Division III national tournaments, also qualified for one of the two Mid-Atlantic berths up for grabs by defeating the Lady Flyers in the opener of the tri-match.

Seedings for the 12-team event will be announced at noon on Tuesday via the NJCAA Network.

This will be the first trip to the nationals for the No. 11 ranked Lady Flyers (21-14) since 2010 when Coach Alicia Riggan's squad led by All-American Miranda Love finished in seventh place.

"I feel like its been a long time coming," Riggan said afterward. "I said coming into this season that this has the potential to be one of our best teams. We put together a schedule that was extremely tough. I told the girls not to worry about the record and that the reason we are playing these games is to prepare us for the post season.

"We had three teams here ranked in the top 10 today and all three of us deserved to be there."

The Rank is Just a Number

"The rank is just a number," was the mindset expressed afterward by several of the Flyers, regarding the challenge of facing the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams in the final regular season poll.

With good contingents of supporters of both visiting teams on hand, Owens (27-6) qualified for the national tournament by defeating the Flyers 25-20, 25-15, 15-25 and 25-19 in the opener of the tri-match. The Express then swept Butler County (19-4), leading to the match between the Lady Flyers and the squad from Pennsylvania for the district's second national tournament berth.

Sophomore Keke Lawrence, and freshmen Dajsha Fields and Madison Brower, did much of the swinging as the Flyers won the first set 25-23 against the Pioneers who finished in sixth place at last year's national tournament. But the visitors showed signs of taking command when they easily took the second set 25-11.

A pair of kills by Lawrence, and one by Brower, got the Lady Flyers off to a 4-0 start in the third set. They never trailed with kills by JaLasia Ray accounting for the final two points as they took a 2-1 lead with a 25-22 win.

The Lady Flyers led by a slim 12-11 margin in the decisive fourth set when they scored seven points in a row with both Lawrence and Ray credited with kills. Libero L'Asia Jackson was on the serving line when she raced to the net for a ball, dove and flicked it over the net for a spectacular kill that made it 17-11.

"I knew I couldn't let any balls hit the floor and that we had to do what we had to do to win today because it was very important to us," she said.

Moments later the Flyers were 25-15 winners and Minnesota bound.

Middle hitter Lawrence was the leader in kills with 18. Setter Lannah Huneycutt contributed 36 assists and 18 digs, Fields was credited with 11 kills and nine digs. Brower contributed 10 digs and five solo blocks. Defensive specialist Abby Quick, one of four sophomores along with Lawrence, Jackson and Mackenzie Swett added 10 digs.

Lady Flyers Leave It All Out on the Court

"We had this same opportunity last year and it didn't happen," Lawrence said, recalling losses to Owens and Butler, in five sets, on the latter's home court. "That put a lot of fight in us. We all came together just like we did last week at the Region 10 tournament.

"We played together, for each other. All gas, no brakes, is what we say. We fight for each other and it was a team effort."

Freshman Olivia Barlowe, who contributed three aces and 11 digs, also didn't feel the Flyers were intimidated by the highly-ranked opponents.

"Not really because of the amount of time we put in the gym and worked hard together," the product of Parkwood High School said. "I knew we could do it. It's so big and I'm so excited. I think everybody just played their hearts out and left everything on the court and that's why we won."

Freshmen Alyssa Maragelis, Alexis Hinson, Ny'Asia McKinnon and Anna Ty Ivey also contributed to the team's success.

More Top 10 teams Await

The Lady Flyers are expecting to fly to Minnesota early in the week of November 6. Lawrence and Jackson are among the members of the team that will be making their first trips to that state.

In addition to Owens, the field includes Dupage CC (IL), Fulton-Montgomery (NY), Finger Lakes (NY), Harrisburg Area (PA), Northampton (PA), Dutchess (NY), Monroe-Bronx (NY), Century (MN), Minnesota State and Dallas College-Brookhaven. Eight of them are ranked in the top 10.

Fields, a Fairmont High School grad is excited about the experience that lies ahead.

"This is something I've never experienced before," she said. "Just being here with this group of girls makes it even more special. It's just like what coach tells us that we're always playing for somebody else. I wasn't feeling my best so I knew I wanted to play for the sophomores on my team so I gave it my absolute all."

In the aftermath of the victory, Riggan received a hug from Sandhills President Dr, John Dempsey.  Earlier in the week she was concerned that several of her players, including Lawrence and Swett wouldn't be at 100 per cent because of injuries. McKinnon and Hinson were unavailable because of illness.

"We came together and accomplished goals they set on August first, win the region, go undefeated (in conference), win the region tournament, win the district and go to nationals," the coach said. "For the sophomores this is the last time they'll play in The Hangar. It's incredible what these girls put their minds to and what they accomplished today.

"I have a great staff that brought it today too. Everybody was excited, everybody was coaching and we needed that."

The assistant coaches include Holly Mandeville, Kristin Hylton, Lindsay McManamon and Jacob Marley. Qualifying for nationals in her eighth year with the team is special for Hylton.

"These girls played with so much heart and just did not want to give up," she said. "I give all the credit to them. We were big cheerleaders for them, but they went out and did their jobs."

C. Bergmann