September 30 , 2005

Lady Saints hook Sailfish, 3-0

Flagler College served up a dish of revenge and downed Palm Beach Atlantic University 3-0 (30-20, 33-31, 30-25) in a non-conference women’s volleyball match Friday night at Flagler Gym. PBA had defeated Flagler twice this season, winning 3-2 and 3-0, both last week in West Palm Beach.

Jessica Pate (Green Cove Springs, Fla./Clay HS) led a balanced scoring attack for Flagler (11-9) with 10 kills. She hit .368 on the evening. Holli Strompolis (Neenah, Wisc./Neenah HS) added nine kills and Elizabeth Layfield (Gainesville, Fla./Florida CC-Jacksonville) tacked on eight kills and nine digs for the Lady Saints. Katie Pommier (Crescent City, Ill./Crescent Iroquois HS) registered 26 assists and added six digs.

The Lady Saints got started early in game one, scoring the first three points of the match and rode it to a 9-3 advantage. A pair of consecutive aces by Sarah Spraggings (Jacksonville, Fla./Fletcher HS) widened the margin to 12-4. The spread would grow to 12 after a Kristin Mock attack error made the score 17-5. The Sailfish would only get as close as nine points and Krista McAra’s (Merritt Island, Fla./Merritt Island HS) spike ended the first game 30-20.

The second game went back and forth with nine ties and five lead changes. The sailfish rattled off the first three points, but the Lady Saints rallied and evened the score 3-3 on an attack error by Ali Mitchell. Flagler would take a short-lived lead on an attack error by Mock, but would relinquish the lead on a service error by Layfield. Flagler re-grouped and got the next point to take a 5-4 lead on PBA.

A pair of Whitney Warren service aces got the Sailfish back out in front, 7-6. PBA would not trail again until a pair of attack errors by Mitchell and a ball handling error by Ashley Bonvento put Flagler up 28-27. The Sailfish tied it at 28 on a kill by Chrissy Gulden and then took a 29-28 lead on an ace by Nashea Kiehl. The Lady Saints trailed 31-30 and ran off the next three points off a kill by Jessica Wedemyer (Peachtree City, Ga./McIntosh HS), a block assists by Strompolis and McAra and finished with an ace by Pommier.

In the final game, the Lady Saints cruised to a 6-1 lead and lost to advantage when Warren served up another ace for PBA to tie the game at 19. A Mock kill would later give the Sailfish a 24-21 lead, but the Lady Saints rallied back. A kill by Layfield sparked a 4-0 run by Flagler to take a commanding 27-23 lead. Carrie Arnette (Keystone Heights, Fla./St. Johns River CC) sealed the match with an ace for 30-25 game win, and the match.

Flagler will host 16th-ranked Savannah College of Art and Design on Oct. 6 at 7 p.m. at Flagler Gym.