Beale & Burkhardt Lead Saints Past UNCP

PEMBROKE – On a night when UNCP’s offense could only muster 25 kills as a team Flagler outside hitters Justine Burkhardt and Katie Beale combined for 25 kills between themselves as the Saints defeated the Braves 3-0 in a Peach Belt Conference volleyball match on Friday night at the English E. Jones Center.

Pembroke (7-10, 1-4 PBC) got a team high eight kills from middle hitter Jessica Hartley, but 12 other Braves that saw action combined for only 17 kills as a team and a hitting percentage of .078. The Saints (13-8, 6-1 PBC) posted a team mark of .272, committing only 13 attack errors in the match.

Burkhardt posted a match-high 13 kills with Beale adding 12 of her own to the Flagler total. Flagler setters Rebecca Royal (19) and Olivia Snipes (13) combined for 32 assists in directing the Saint offense to 44 team kills. Burkhardt also collected a team-high 13 digs for FC.

Freshman setter Sam Wylie tallied 17 assists for Pembroke and junior libero Caitlin Haworth added 14 digs on defense.

The first set of the match saw the two teams battle through eight lead changes and 13 tie scores to a 22-22 tie before the Saints were able to convert three consecutive points to take game one 25-22. In the second set the Braves only managed five kills as a team with Flagler going for 13 in a 25-16 victory.

Falling behind early in the third set UNCP clawed its way back into the game and pulled to within a point of Flagler at 16-15, but the Saints would go on a 9-2 run to win the set 25-17 and the match 3-0.

UNCP will be back in action tomorrow when the Pirates of Armstrong Atlantic State come to the Jones Center for a PBC match set to begin at 5:30 p.m. Flagler will go on to play Francis Marion on Saturday at the Smith University Center on the campus of the Patriots at 2 p.m.