SAVANNAH, Ga. – Flagler College used two incredible rallies which included fighting off seven different match points in the fifth set to escape with a 3-2 (31-29, 25-17, 18-25, 17-25, 17-15) win over Armstrong State University in a Peach Belt Conference volleyball match Wednesday night at the Pirate Athletic Center.
Flagler improved to 12-6 overall and 8-2 in the Peach Belt. Armstrong lost its second match in a row and fell to 16-4 overall and 6-3 in conference play. This was the Pirates first loss at home this season (2-1).
The Saints trailed 14-8 after the Pirates went on a 7-1 run to break open a 7-all tie.
Ashley Cheewah and
Jenea Reddick had kills to fight off the first two match points. After a ball handling error,
Megan Hooks served up an ace to bring Flagler back to 14-12 and forced an Armstrong timeout, it second and final one of the set. Another kill by Cheewah brought Flagler to within a point, 14-13. Autumn Mayo followed with an attack error to square the score at 14-all. Another ace by Hooks gave Flagler its first lead of the set, 15-14, since leading 6-5. Now the Saints had match point but Kim Brody of the Pirates kept it going with a kill. A service error by Kristi Vaughn gave Flagler match point again (16-15) and on the next rally, Brody had a hitting error to end the match.
In the first set, won by Flagler 31-29, the Saints fought off five set points by the Pirates.
Sara Davis led Flagler with 21 kills and hit an efficient .312 with just six errors on 48 swings. She added three block assists to her line.
Taja Valmyr recorded her fifth double-double of the season, and fourth in a row, with 16 kills and 16 digs. Nine of her 16 kills came in the first set. Hooks added 11 kills and had two aces.
Tara Savisky recorded her team-leading 11
th double-double of the season with 51 assists and she collected a career-high 22 digs. Cheewah finished with seven kills and three total blocks while
Genel Sturgeon recorded four block assists.
Kayla Norelli tacked on 22 digs.
Raegan Grooms collected a match-high 22 kills for the Pirates. She hit .392 with only two errors on 51 swings and just fell short of a double-double with nine digs. Brody added 16 kills while Mayo supplied 10 more. Carley Eiken tallied 60 assists and had 17 digs to complete the double-double. She had five aces to add to her line. Iva Scepanovic collected a match-high 29 digs. Raquel Kulak and Rachel Thompson each recorded six total blocks.
Flagler returns home to face the University of Montevallo on Friday (Oct. 28) at 7 p.m. at Flagler Gymnasium.
