ST. AUGUSTINE – A balanced offensive attack is what helped Flagler College rally to a 3-2 (25-20, 15-25, 19-25, 25-19, 15-9) win over the University of Montevallo Friday night in a Peach Belt Conference volleyball match at Flagler Gymnasium.
Flagler improved to 13-6 overall and 9-2 in the Peach Belt. Montevallo dropped to 12-11 overall and 5-8 in conference play.
Ashley Cheewah led the way for the Saints with 11 kills and she finished with a red-hot .429 hitting percentage as she only had two errors on 21 swings. She added three total blocks to her line.
Sara Davis added 10 kills and three aces while
Megan Hooks just fell shy of a double-double with nine kills and 11 digs.
Tara Savisky tallied 45 assists while
Rachel Porada collected a team-high 15 digs.
The match featured 22 ties and 16 lead changes. The fourth set alone had 12 ties and nine lead changes. The Saints broke an 18-all tie in the fourth with a pair of aces by Davis sandwiched around a Hooks kill which forced a Falcon timeout. After a hitting error by Flagler, the Saints scored the next four points to take the set. Davis had six kills and hit .545 in the fourth set.
The fifth and deciding set was controlled early by Flagler. Sporting an 11-4 lead, the Saints would have to fend off a small run by the Falcons to close to within five, 13-8, but they could not get any closer.
Jenea Reddick blocked and attack by Brie Blume to set up match point. After Montevallo broke the first match point, Reddick hit a cross-court smash to end the match. Reddick finished the match with six kills, hit .500 and had two total blocks in two sets played.
Kristy Bohan led the Falcons with a match-high 20 kills, hit an efficient .425 and had five of the Falcons 11 aces. Shannon Dudley and Chandler Cooper each had 11 kills. Hannah Christie recorded a double-double with 45 assists and 14 digs. Grace Harris corralled a match-high 18 digs.
Flagler played its third consecutive five-set match tonight. The last time the team did that was in 2006, the program's first year of provisional NCAA Division II status. The Saints won all three, defeating Evangel University twice and Jamestown College at the Embry-Riddle Labor Day Tournament. This run Flagler went 2-1.
Up next for Flagler is Columbus State University. That match will be played tomorrow (Oct. 29) at 2 p.m. at Flagler Gym.
