BENTONVILLE — The Bentonville Lady Tigers will try to get back in the win column tonight when they host Fort Smith Northsidein a 7A-West Conference volleyball match at Tiger Arena.
The Lady Tigers (11-8-1, 6-1) suffered their first conference loss of theseason last Thursday 3-0 (26-24, 25-20, 25-16) at Fayetteville in a match that featured several selfinflicted errors for Bentonville.
The following day, Friday, theLady Tigers responded with an intense practice followed by a relaxed weekend, head coach Michelle Coens said.
"It was a good wake-up call for them," Coens said of the loss to Fayetteville. "We ended (Friday) on a very positivenote. : We had a nice restful weekend, so they're well-rested and mentally and physically
prepared."
Tonight's match against the Lady Bears (5-8, 1-6) kicks off an important stretch of games thisweek as the conference roundrobin schedule begins its second cycle.
Bentonville plays at Har-Ber (12-3-1, 6-1) on Thursday and the Lady Wildcats should have the services of All-State hitter Kirstie Hesseltine in this week's matchup.
Hesseltine missed the first game against Bentonville when she injured her ankle in pregame.
Bentonville, Har-Ber and Fayetteville are all tied in a perfect triangle atop the 7A-West with 6-1 records.
But before the Lady Tigers can worry about Har-Ber, they've got to get past Northside tonight.
The Lady Bears' only conference victory came against Heritage on Sept. 10.
Northside has had little success on the volleyball court in recent years. After going 40-2 in the 7AWest from 2004-06, the Lady Bears were 6-22 in 2007-08.
Northside gave Bentonville trouble for the first two games of their Sept. 3 match at Kaundart-Grizzly Fieldhouse. The Lady Tigers edged out the Lady Bears 25-22, 26-24 in the first two games before completing the sweep in the third 25-16.
"Every year they keep getting stronger," Coens said. "They're pure athletes. They can jump outof the gym. They hit it over our blocks. They gave us a lot of trouble, especially in that Game 2."
Sports, Pages 5, 6 on 09/29/2009