November 14, 2009

Falcons Fall in Semifinals of the PBC Tournament

MONTEVALLO, Ala. - The fourth-seeded University of Montevallo Falcons (20-14) fell to the number one seed Flagler College (31-8) in a 3-0 semifinal match at the Peach Belt Conference Volleyball Tournament, part of the PBC-GEICO Championship series. The Falcons were led by first team All-Conference selection Katy Handrick (De Pere, Wisc./De Pere) who drove home 13 kills and dug up eight balls to lead the team.

Senior CarsonAnderson (Chattanooga, Tenn./Baylor) was second on the team in kills with seven while freshman Virginia Clay (Fort Collins, Colo./Poudre) and senior Katie Johnson (Alabaster, Ala./Thompson) each had six. Johnson added eight digs while Clay had a pair of blocks.

Freshman libero Brittany Wilson (Floyds Knobs, Ind./Floyd Central) led the team in digs with 14 while second team All-PBC selection Anna Garrison (LaVergne, Tenn./LaVergne) paced the team with 30 assists and five digs.

Sophomore defensive specialist Rachel Wotitzky (Punta Gorda, Fla./Charlotte) added seven digs.

The top-seeded Saints opened the match by taking the victory in the first set. Flagler and Montevallo played neck-and-neck for much of the first set, but behind one solo block and four block assists from first team All-Conference selection Meg Weathersby in the first set the Saints picked up a 25-18 win that gave them an early 1-0 lead.

Flagler hit .385 as a team in the first set, while Montevallo concluded the first game collectively hitting .154.

The Saints led for most of the second set, but Montevallo pulled back to within three at 19-16 late in the set. Flagler would make sure that the Falcons would not get any closer with Becky Hendrian almost single-handedly leading the way by picking up back-to-back service aces that gave the Saints a five-point 21-16 lead. Flagler would not look back from there, holding on in the set for a 25-19 victory.

Flagler continued to exert themselves in the third set by fighting off an extremely feisty Montevallo squad for a 25-23 win that earned them the sweep.