BENTON — Van Buren’s stay in recent volleyball state tournaments has not lasted more than a day. But on Tuesday, it was the Lady Pointers who made short work of Little Rock Fair.
Junior middle blocker Emily Nelson made eight kills and senior Brittany Henson had seven kills and served four aces as Van Buren posted a 25-11, 25-8, 25-6 victory over the Lady War Eagles in the first round of the Class 6A state tournament at Benton High School.
“For the past three years, we’ve gone to the state and it’s been one-and-done,” Van Buren Coach Stephanie Hill said. “So it is nice to come in and get that first one under our belt. Our focus now is to hopefully carry on that momentum against Lake Hamilton [today].”
Van Buren (20-11) plays 6A-South champion Lake Hamilton at 6 p.m. in today’squarterfinals.
Van Buren took only 42 minutes to dispose of Fair, which had only seven available players. The only timeVan Buren trailed in the match was a 3-2 deficit in the first game.
The Lady Pointers jumped out to a 7-1 lead in the second game and led 11-0 to start the third game.
It was a perfect match for the Lady Pointers to get rid of any nervousness.
“I was pleased with our focus and the fact that we didn’t let up,” Hill said. “We played our game and didn’t adjust to what they were doing just because of the way the game was being played.”
Van Buren also did a good job of spreading its offense around. Sophomore middle blocker Paige Beckner also had seven kills, junior outside hitter Kelsey Webb produced six kills and three aces and junior outside hitter Malorie Mullens had four kills.
“That’s fairly normal for us,” Hill said. “We have a lot of girls who do a good job of killing the ball and a setter [junior Courtney Moore] who does a good job of knowing who to get the ball to at the right time.”
Van Buren finished with 12 aces, while Fair had only one.
Sports, Pages 24 on 10/27/2010