BENTONVILLE — Over and over again, Tatum Marshall grabbed the volleyball, jumped in midair and smacked it toward a specific target across the net.
For much of Wednesday, North Little Rock’s players had trouble simply returning the Fayetteville sophomore’s serve. They often hit the ball in every direction but back across the net.
Thanks in large part to their well-placed serves, the Lady Bulldogs cruised through the second round of the Class 7A State Tournament with a 25-16, 25-9, 25-18 win over North Little Rock in Tiger Arena.
Half of Marshall’s service points (5-of-10) went for aces, and top-seeded Fayetteville faced little resistance in a match that lasted a little more than an hour.
“We knew we needed to come in and play consistently, and I thought we did a good job of eliminating errors on our side of the net,” Fayetteville coach Jessica Phelan said.
“Offensively, we looked pretty crisp and we did a good job receiving serves. And so I felt like that’s a good first step, a good first day.”
The Lady Bulldogs (31-3-3), which earned a first-round bye, will return to the court at 3 p.m. today to face 7A-West Conference rival Fort Smith Southside. Fayetteville won both meetings this season.
Marshall and her older sister, outside hitter Courtney Marshall, helped the Lady Bulldogs make quick work of North Little Rock (9-13).
Courtney Marshall led Fayetteville with 11 kills, and Tatum Marshall provided solid defense and accurate shots from the service line. At one point toward the end of the second game, the sophomore recorded three consecutive aces.
“They were picking on some of our less experience passers, I guess, and good teams do that,” North Little Rock coach Cheryl Bing said of Marshall’s serves. “They kind of capitalize on your weaknesses, and at the time they were picking on a certain spot and they were able to rattle off several points that way.”
After falling behind early in each of the first two games, the Lady Charging Wildcats got off to a fast start in the final game and took a 10-5 lead. That’s when Phelan called a timeout to regroup her players.
It worked, as the Lady Bulldogs won nine of the next 11 points and never looked back.
“As a young team, this is our first time in a state tournament and we needed to pick it up (and) realize that nobody wants their season to end,” Phelan said. “Everybody is going to play hard.
“And we needed to notch it up on our intensity on our side of the net and refocus and finish.”
Fayetteville outside hitter Hannah Pinter added 10 kills, and setter Aubrey Edie recorded 21 assists.