HARRISON — Shiloh Christian had its own block party Thursday afternoon in the Brandon Burlsworth Youth Center.
The Lady Saints’ big front row made it tough on Mena hitters and helped blaze a trail to their first state title match with a 25-18, 25-18, 25-27, 25-14 win over the Lady Cats in the semifinals of the Class 4A State Volleyball Tournament.
Shiloh (26-4) will now take on Valley View, which is making its seventh consecutive state finals appearance, at 7 p.m. Saturday in Tiger Arena at Bentonville High.
The Lady Blazers have won four of the last six state titles.
Seniors Hannah West and Lindsay Roe, along with freshman Brittany Butler, each of whom is 6-feet tall, combined for an incredible 19 block assists to go with two solos to help keep the Mena attack in check.
Shiloh coach Karen Morris said her team got out of the gates quickly in the first two sets to set the tone in the match, grabbing leads of 11-1 in the opening set and 8-1 in the second.
“We had a good warmup hour at another gym and just came out ready to play,” Morris said. “Our blocking, that’s one of our better assets. But it hadn’t really showed up in our last two matches. But it showed up really big when we really needed it.”
The return of West sure helped Thursday, Morris said.
West had been sidelined for about six weeks because of a broken right foot, but returned for the state tournament.
She made her presence felt with a match-high 14 kills and seven block assists.
“We have a pretty big block. But it sure helps having our number 33 (West) back,” Morris said. “Hannah’s just the heart and soul of our team.”
West said getting to the championship match after being eliminated in the finals two of the last three seasons was a big accomplishment.
“It’s crazy,” West said. “This is a huge mountain to climb.”
It was also big since doctors weren’t sure she would be able to play in the state tournament. “I thought I would,” West said. “I really wanted to. But doctors didn’t know for sure.”
However, West wasn’t Shiloh’s only offensive weapon Thursday. Brittany Harper chipped in 11 kills, while Roe and Makenzie Heithoff chipped in nine and eight, respectively. Libero Madison Elliott was also strong defensively with a match-high 19 digs for the Lady Saints.
Mena coach Heather Clark said her team just got in too big a hole early in three of the four sets, but Shiloh’s defense had a lot to do with that.
“We battled and fought and I’m proud of that, but you can’t get in a hole like that against a good team,” Clark said. “They did an excellent job blocking what we hit at them and their libero played well, too. They just did a great job defensively.”
The Lady Cats (21-11), who split two matches during the regular season with Shiloh, clawed back to take the third set, but fell behind 10-3 early in the fourth and never seriously threatened the rest of the way.
Senior outside hitter Kaitlyn Mitchell led Mena with 11 kills, while Marissa Willis added 10.