PAINESVILLE, Ohio – Flagler College, playing its first match in two weeks, got off to a slow start and a surging Lake Erie College team was able to hold on for a 3-1 (25-15, 26-24, 19-25, 25-21) win in a non-conference volleyball match Friday afternoon at the Osborne Center.
Lake Erie won its fourth match in a row and improved to 7-3 overall. Flagler fell to 3-1. The Saints had last weekend's Flagler Classic cancelled due to Hurricane Irma.
Brooke Pfeiffer led the Storm with a match-high 18 kills and hit .300 with just three errors on 50 swings. Pfeiffer added seven digs and three total blocks to her line. Bethany Fisher added 16 kills and hit .293 with four errors on 41 swings. Alexis Thomas finished with a double-double as she tallied 27 assists and collected a team-high 15 digs. Sidney Fletcher finished with 14 digs.
Taja Valmyr led the Saints with her second double-double of the year with 15 kills and 16 digs.
Sara Davis added 14 kills and hit .379 with three errors on 29 swings.
Tara Savisky added a match-high 41 assists while
Kayla Norelli gathered a match-high 20 digs.
Karlie Redfern just missed a double-double with nine kills and 12 digs.
Flagler hit a season-low .189 with 49 kills and 22 errors on 143 swings. The Saints also had a season-high 11 service errors.
The Storm hit .407 (13-2-27) in the first set. They went on a 5-1 run to pull away and take control of the set. Fisher racked up two kills in the spurt, which was capped off by a double-block by Shannon Holsinger and Lexi Lombardo. The Saints hit .143 (10-6-28).
There were 10 ties and six lead changes in a hotly contested second set. A Redfern kill gave the Saints a 23-22 lead, but Lombadro answered with consecutive kills to give the Storm the lead at 24-23. After a Flagler timeout, Redfern tied the game at 24 with a kill. Lombardo blocked Valmyr's attack to give Lake Erie the lead again, 25-24. Then Valmyr had an errant attack that gave the set to the Storm.
Flagler came back strong in the third set and built up a 19-10 lead. Valmyr had six kills to lead the Saints as they held on for a 25-19 win. Flagler hit much better with a .263 (14-4-38) mark. The defense limited the Storm to a .095 hitting percentage (12-8-42).
With the score tied at 16 in the fourth set, Fisher recorded a kill and Pfeiffer added a solo block to give Lake Erie an 18-16 lead. It would be a lead the Storm would not relinquish. Of the 11 service errors Flagler had, five of them came in the final set.
Flagler will play two matches tomorrow in Findlay, Ohio. The Saints open against Cedarville University at 3:30 p.m. and then will face the home-standing University of Findlay at 7 p.m.
