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ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. − Jessica Pate (Green Cove Springs, Fla.) recorded her sixth double-double, of the season and third-consecutive to lead Flagler College to a hard-fought 3-1 (22-30, 32-30, 30-25, 30-26) win over Embry-Riddle University in the second semifinal match of the NAIA Region XIV Volleyball Tournament Friday night at Flagler Gym.
Flagler, the No. 2-seed, will now take on top seeded Savannah College of Art and Design, a 3-0 winner earlier tonight over Webber International University, for the region's automatic berth to the NAIA National Tournament Nov. 30-Dec. 3 in San Diego, Calif.
The entire match was close, 35 ties and 22 lead changes.
In the opening game both teams traded points until Embry-Riddle (24-12) rattled off four consecutive points, aided by a? couple of attack errors by Flagler (20-14) to pull ahead 23-18 and went on to win 30-22.
Flagler opened the second game on a 10-5 run, but ERAU rallied to knot the game at 11-11 on a service ace by Marissa Gonzalez (Littleton, Colo.). The Eagles widened the gap to 13-11 after a pair of attack errors by the Lady Saints. Flagler found itself facing game point (29-25) with Region XIV/Florida Sun Conference?Player of the Year?Janelle Marinos (Three Rivers, Calif.) serving. Pate broke the first game point with a kill and Holli Strompolis (Neenah, Wisc.) followed suit to cut the deficit to 29-27. After an ERAU timeout, Marinos had back-to-back attack errors knotting the game at 29-29. Daniela Brazolino (Belo Horizonte, Brazil) put Embry-Riddle back in front 30-29 with a kill of her own. Strompolis and an ERAU attack error set-up Elizabeth Layfield's (Gainesville, Fla.) game winning spike.
Game three, alone, saw 11 ties and eight lead changes. Flagler wasn't able to take control of the game until an Eagle committed a ball handling error and an ace by Layfield gave the Lady Saints enough room to pull away.
In the final game, Flagler led for much of the middle portion until an Ashell Curtiss (Libby, Mont.) service ace and two kills by Marinos put the Eagles up 22-19 with a fifth and deciding game looming in the balance. Flagler was able to gab back the lead on four consecutive attack errors by Embry-Riddle, putting the Lady Saints up 26-24.
Layfield finished the match with 13 kills and 11 digs while Strompolis tacked on 10 kills and five block assists. Sarah Spraggins (Jacksonville, Fla.) led the defense with 18 digs and Krista McAra (Merritt Island, Fla.) added eight total blocks. Katie Pommier (Crescent City, Ill.) tallied 28 assists and added 10 digs for the Lady Saints.
Marinos led the way for the Eagles with a match-high 23 kills and added 19 digs. Salb had a match-high 22 digs while Mia Jaramillo (Manizales, Colombia) finished with seven total blocks. Marissa Gonzales (Littleton, Colo.) tallied 48 assists.
