AIKEN, S.C. – The No. 7 seed Lenoir-Rhyne University relied upon a fundamentally sound performance to upset the No. 2 seed, Flagler College, 3-1 (25-22, 25-21, 19-25, 25-19) in the second quarterfinal of the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Friday afternoon at the Convocation Center.

Lenoir-Rhyne improved to 24-7 overall and will advance to the regional semifinal tomorrow where it will me another upset-minded team, No. 6 seed Lander University who knocked off the No. 3 seed Wingate University in the first quarterfinal. Those two teams will meet tomorrow at 5 p.m. The No. 7 seed has won four matches out the seven played so far in the 2015 NCAA Division II Volleyball Tournament.  

Flagler wraps up its season with a 23-8 record, an improvement of 7.5 games from last year.

"We knew going in Lenoir-Rhyne was going to be a low-error team and they did that," said Flagler head coach Matt Affolder. The Bears had only 18 hitting errors, three service errors, six reception errors, but had six blocking and six ball handling errors. Flagler had 37 hitting errors and eight service errors. ""Lenoir-Rhyne put pressure on us and sometimes that can wear you when the rallies get long. We really wanted to be efficient offensively with the ball and when those rallies got long, we could try and terminate, but that didn't happen as much as we wanted it to. They are going to be a very hard out for anybody because they aren't going to do it for you."  

The Saints were led offensively by Taja Valmyr. She recorded a match-high 15 kills. AVCA All-Southeast Region first-team middle hitter Sara Davis added 12 kills and three block assists. Ashley Cheewah contributed nine kills and three block assists. Both Davis and Cheewah recorded five kills in the third set. Tara Savisky, the Southeast Region Freshman of the Year, recorded her 16^th double-double of the season with 40 assists and 11 digs. Caitlyn Kovach, one of four Flagler senior who played their final match, collected a match-high 29 digs and served two aces. Shea Hamilton added 23 digs while senior Ashley Lechleidner-Rodriguez and Payten Pillsbury collected 11 and 10 digs, respectively.

"I am extremely honored to be a part of Flagler and sad that I'm a senior and have to go, but I definitely wouldn't have wanted to go out with anybody else," said Kovach who finished her career with 1,907 digs which puts her second all-time at Flagler. "This is a family and the girls put their hearts out there every time, and just because this is as far as we wanted to go, this does not take away from what we have done throughout the season."

Flagler hit .083 for the match, its lowest hitting percentage of the year. The Saints recorded 53 kills and 37 errors on 192 swings. Flagler prospered in the third set hitting .220 with 16 kills and seven errors on 41 swings.

Lenoir-Rhyne was led by D2 CCA All-Southeast Region second-teamer Brooke Redmond's 13 kills, nine digs and two block assists. Brandi Thomas came off the bench to add 10 kills and four block assists. Jessica Funk recorded a double-double with 13 assists and 10 digs. Emily Steele added four block assists as the Bears recorded nine as a team. Bailey Cloninger collected a team-high 26 digs.   

The winner of the Southeast Regional will advance to the national championships which will be played next weekend at Tampa, Florida.