ST. AUGUSTINE – The Flagler volleyball team opened conference with an intense five set defeat over USCA on Friday night.
QUOTES FROM COACH
"We had to work hard to overcome some errors early on that caused us some difficulties."
Jeff Reynolds said. "Once we got those figured out, we were able to take control of the match and things worked out." Reynolds added.
"USCA is a good team, and we had to work hard for that one. I'm extremely proud of our team for staying focused and working through things at a very competitive level." Reynolds said. "This team is pretty darn special." Reynolds finished.
Flagler vs. USCA
Score: Flagler 3, USCA 2 (23-25, 25-16, 18-25, 25-21, 15-8)
Location: St. Augustine, Florida (Flagler Gymnasium)
Records: Flagler (11-2) PBC (1-0), USCA (8-3), PBC (0-1)
The Short Story: The Saints had a roller coast ride for their conference opener with the Pacers on Friday night that ended on a huge Middlebrooks kill to take the first conference win of the season.
OPENING VOLLEY
- Marley Middlebrooks saved the day tonight with a huge kill to end the game. She grabbed another double-double with tying up her season-high 24 kills and 18 digs. On top of the double-double, she hit .323, one assist, and four blocks.
- Mar'ley Phillips grabbed her third double-double of the season with a new season-high digs of 18 and 11 kills with a .400 hitting percentage.
- Katherine Rank also tied her season-high11 kills, made three digs and two blocks. Gia Lowe adds 10 kills with five digs for 10 points.
- Jilly Young took majority of the time at setter tonight. She got her fourth double-double of the season with 39 assists and 12 digs. Young also has a season-high three aces. Bella Law made 16 assists with four digs and a kill.
- Amelia Fitzpatrick had quite the night with getting a new season-high of 26 digs and assists with two along with two aces.
THE DIFFERENCE
- In set one, the Saints weren't off to a good start, they fell behind early 0-4. Flagler started to slowly come back with going on a five-point run with four kills to get ahead 10-4. After that led, the Saints couldn't get ahead anymore. They were able to keep up but not enough to shut the door on the Pacers, dropping set one 23-25.
- Once the Saints got ahead 3-2 in the beginning of frame two, they were able to get a three-kill run with a Pacer attacking error to widen the lead 7-2. The Saints really put their foot on the gas to go on a 6-1 point run with an additional four points to go up 17-10. After a Pacer kill to make the score 24-16, Phillips made a huge kill to take the set 25-16. Flagler had six more kills over USCA and a hitting percentage of .343 to .111 which helped the Saints.
- For the third set, the Pacers went on a nine-point run to get a huge lead of 4-10. The Saints would try to fight back by going back-and-forth get a kill here and there but not enough to put themselves over the Pacers. Flagler got close to going ahead on 18-20, but the Pacers went on to take set three from three kills and two self-inflicted errors, 18-25.
- In the fourth frame, the Pacers and Saints were going back-and-forth with getting ahead and falling behind. When the set was tied at 15-15, the Saints made three kills and two Pacer errors to go ahead 20-17. Flagler needed one more point to go into the fifth set and they succeeded with a Rank kill to take it 25-21.
- The Pacers were quick to get ahead 2-0, but with a kill by Middlebrooks, she started a four-point rally to go ahead 4-2. USCA soon came back to tie it up, but the Saint took a bigger lead with going on a seven-point run to double the Pacers score 14-7. The Pacers were able to get a kill to go up one, but it was soon over by a huge Middlebrooks kill to take the intense match up with a win 15-8.
NOTABLES
- The Saints lead the match with kills (66-53), aces (5-3), assists (64-43) and digs (122-92). They also had higher hitting percentages in 3-5 sets.
- The Paces led in blocks with 11 to the Saints six.
COMING UP
The Saints next match will be at home on Friday, September 25
th at 6 p.m. to face Peach Belt Conference opponent Middle Georgia State University.
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