BENTONVILLE — Fort Smith Southside Coach Steve Haaser realized the tall task awaiting his team and talked to his players about hitting to different spots on the court, but even he acknowledged there wasn’t much his hitters could do to get around Fayetteville’s blockers.
Fayetteville deflected Southside’s shots repeatedly Thursday and swatted away any upset hopes the Confederettes had in a 25-11, 25-17, 25-19 victory in the semifinals of the Class 7A state tournament at Tiger Arena.
“Blocking is a great momentum keeper and builder,” said Fayetteville Coach Jessica Phelan, whose team has several players 5-10 or taller. “I thought that we did a good job lining up and using our height advantage at the net.”
Shannon Airola blocked seven shots, Aubrey Edie added five blocks and topseeded Fayetteville (32-3-3)used its stingy defense to advance to Saturday’s state championship game against Bentonville (30-8).
Fayetteville, the No. 1 seed from the 7A-West, and Bentonville, the No. 2 seed from the conference, split their first two meetings this season and will meet again for the title at 3 p.m. Saturday.
The teams last met in thestate title game in 2007, with Bentonville winning in five games.
“We’re obviously one step closer,” Phelan said. “It’s our second trip to the championship game, which is one of the goals the girls set at the beginning of the year. So I’m real pleased with how we came out [Thursday].”
The Lady Bulldogs didn’t give the Confederettes (24-12) many openings early. With Airola and Edie going up together and blocking shots, Fayetteville jumped out to a 12-5 lead in the first game and 12-6 in the second game.
Southside hung strong in the final game and trailed only 15-14 by countering Fayetteville’s power at the net. But the Lady Bulldogs relied on their balanced offense of outside hitters Hannah Pinter (15 kills), Courtney Marshall (11 kills) and Paige Gocke (11 kills) to pull away.
Edie had 40 assists to go along with her five blocks, and Fayetteville sophomore Tatum Marshall provided additional defense with 29 digs.
Thursday’s victory marked the Lady Bulldogs’ third over Southside this season.
“They’re so strong at everything. They’re definitely a great blocking team,” Haaser said. “Defense, it’s so hard to get a ball down on them.They dig everything up, and their setter [Edie] is unbelievable. [She] makes the whole show go.”
Outside hitter Brooke Hale led Southside with nine kills, and setter Olivia Caldwell added 15 assists.
BENTONVILLE 3, SPRINGDALE HAR-BER 1
With the fourth game of the match hanging in the balance, Bentonville Coach Michelle Coens called timeout and asked her players a simple question.
“I asked them if they really wanted this,” she said. “I was upset at the way our girls were playing. Some were playing like they wanted this, but others were playing scared.”
The Lady Tigers (30-8) provided the proper answer moments later, scoring the last four points to complete a 25-15, 25-16, 20-25, 25-21 victory over Springdale Har-Ber (20-14) to advance to the state championship game for the third time in four years.
Sophomore Haley McNee’s kill broke a 21-21 tie and put Bentonville ahead for good in the fourth game. Leah White then served an ace before Kelsey Parks’ tip over the net and Savannah Chandler’s kill ended the match before a boisterous crowd with students from both schools.
Although the Lady Tigers dominated the first two games, the victory didn’t come easy. Bentonville finished the second game with six consecutive points, capped by Morgan Hayes’ ace to end the game.
Har-Ber made its move by starting the third game with four consecutive points. Bentonville regrouped and tied the game 9-9 on Rebecca Brown’s tip, but the Lady Wildcats responded by scoring nine of the next 11 points for an 18-11 lead en route to forcing the fourth game.
Information for this article was contributed by Henry Apple of The Morning News.
Sports, Pages 22 on 10/29/2010