Flagler volleyball ends season in NCAA quarterfinals

PENSACOLA, Fla. – Sara Davis recorded a team-high 18 kills and added three blocks, but it wasn’t enough as fourth-seed Flagler College fell to fifth-seeded Rockhurst University 3-1 (17-25, 25-15, 25-22, 25-20) in a quarterfinal match of the NCAA Division II National Tournament Thursday evening at the UWF Fieldhouse.

Rockhurst improved to 32-7 overall and advances to take on the winner of the Concordia-St. Paul-New Haven match tomorrow at 8:30 p.m. Flagler had its 22-match win streak snapped an ends its season with a 27-4 mark. The .871 winning percentage is the program’s best since posting a .914 mark when the Saints went 32-3 in 2003. 

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Davis hit .366 in her final collegiate match as she had only three errors on 41 swings. She added three blocks, which makes Davis the program’s career leader in blocks with 411. The two-time AVCA All-American passed Shola Osunfisan who had 409 from 2000-03. Davis also holds the all-time block assist record with 343.

AVCA All-America third-teamer Taja Valmyr also closed out her collegiate career as she racked up her 17th double-double of the season with 11 kills and 16 digs. AVCA Southeast Region Freshman of the Year Karlie Redfern added seven kills, 10 digs and four total blocks. Raquel Kulak added five kills and seven block assists. Tara Savisky tallied 45 assists while Kayla Norelli collected a team-high 23 digs.

Alyssa Woodman led the Hawks attack with a match-high 21 kills and added nine digs. She hit .298 for the match with four errors on 57 swings. Karli Reichert and Mary Rolf added 14 and 11 kills, respectively. Rolf hit an efficient .450 with two errors on 20 swings. She added four total blocks to her line. Grace Carter tallied 52 assists while Anne Hellwege gathered a match-high 32 digs. Kalie Arnold had another 20 digs. Emily Matio and Audrey Arand each had four total blocks. 

The Saints got off to a good start hitting .400 in the first set. Davis had five of Flagler’s 12 kills.    

The Hawks hit .250 in the next two sets to earn wins.

In the fourth set, Flagler trailed 19-15, but got a couple of kills from Davis and a block by Redfern to go along with a Rockhurt hitting error to tie the score. After a Flagler service error, Woodman recorded a kill and then teamed with Rolf for a block to give the Hawks a 22-19 lead. Flagler got the next point on a hitting error by Rockhurst, but Woodman’s kill and a Flagler hitting error set up match point (24-20). Woodman put away the final point to advance the Hawks.