Lady Tigers keep pace in West race as 2nd half begins

— Bentonville started the second half of its 7A-West Conference volleyball schedule on a good note.

The Lady Tigers breezed pastFort Smith Northside 3-0 (25-14, 25-14, 25-15) Tuesday at Tiger Arena and remained in a tie forfirst-place in the conference.

Rebecca Brown had a matchhigh nine kills and Sydney Thurow added seven kills for the Lady Tigers (12-8-1, 7-1).

"We set a goal tonight amongst the team and we accomplished it," BHS coach Michelle Coens said. "We held (Northside) to a certain amount of points. The girls didn't let them get a big run. Mentally, they were there tonight and I was happy."

After surviving an initial Northside surge in Game 1, the Lady Tigers controlled the match the rest of the way.

The Lady Bears (5-9, 1-7) led 5-2 early after 6-foot middle Charmaine Whitmore slammed home a kill. The Lady Tigers quickly regained the lead 7-5 with two Northside errors, a kill from Brown and two aces from Thurow.

The Lady Bears hung tough and after Shawnika Jones' killthey trailed 18-14 but Bentonville closed with a 7-0 run to end the match.

"You don't know what to expect," Coens said of playing Northside. "They're just pure athletes. Anything can happen with them. Honestly, they keep us on our toes."

It was all Lady Tigers in Game 2, racing out to a 16-4 lead. Northside pulled within 21-14 after two kills and two blocks from Whitmore, who finished with seven kills and three solo blocks.

Bentonville's Shayne Wiedemann served two aces and a net violation againstNorthside gave BHS the Game 2 win.

Bentonville again pulled out to a big lead in Game 3, leading 18-6 after Brown tipped one past the Lady Bears' defense.

Coens emptied her bench at that point getting every available player in the match.

Lady Tiger junior setter Morgan Hayes had 15 assists while senior libero Shanna Seyfarth led with seven digs.

Wiedemann had three aces.

The Lady Tigers play at Springdale Har-Ber on Thursday in a key 7AWest Conference match. Bentonville beat Har-Ber 3-1 at Tiger Arena on Sept. 8, but the Lady Wildcats were playing without their best player, Kirstie Hesseltine, who was injured in the pregame.

News, Pages 9, 10 on 09/30/2009

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