ST. AUGUSTINE – Georgia College spoiled the first home match for Flagler College after the hurricane by rallying for a 3-2 (21-25, 14-25, 25-22, 25-18, 15-10) victory in a Peach Belt Conference volleyball match Monday evening at Flagler Gymnasium.
Georgia College improved to 13-7 overall and evened its Peach Belt record at 4-4. Flagler dropped to 11-6 overall and 7-2 in conference play. This was Flagler's first home match in a month due to Hurricane Matthew.
The Bobcats dropped the first two sets, but used a 5-0 run late in the third set to take a 21-17 lead. Blake Willoughby and Caroline Long each recorded kills while Katie Ray completed the spurt with an ace. Taylor Svehla collected five kills in the set and hit .714.
In the fourth set, Georgia College hit .290 with 14 kills and five errors on 31 swings, plus three team blocks helped. Set point was won on a double-block by Svehla and Kayla Brockway. Svehla had three block assists alone in the set.
The Bobcats were efficient in the fifth set hitting .250 with seven kills and just two errors on 20 swings. Conversely, Flagler hit .032 with eight kills and seven errors on 31 swings. Long's kill sparked a 4-0 run by Georgia College that broke open a 4-all tie. Svehla added to kills in that run and the Bobcats went on to take the set 15-10, and the match.
Ebony Powers led a balanced Bobcat offense with 13 kills while Miller Howard recorded a double-double with 12 kills and 11 digs. Long finished with 12 kills and hit .308 with four errors on 26 swings. Svehla recorded 11 kills and had four total blocks. Brockway tallied 43 assists and completed the double-double with 11 digs.
Ashley Cheewah recorded a career-best 15 kills, eight of which came in the first set where she hit a perfect 1.000. She hit .600 for the match, also a career-high, with only three errors on 20 swings.
Megan Hooks added 15 kills and hit .316 while
Shea Hamilton chipped in with a season-high 12 kills and four service aces.
Tara Savisky tallied a match-high 53 assists while
Kayla Norelli collected a match-high 24 digs.
Flagler will visit PBC-rival Armstrong State University on Wednesday (Oct. 26) at 7 p.m. in Savannah, Georgia.
