BENTONVILLE — For the first time since 2003, the Siloam Springs Lady Panthers did not come home with the state volleyball championship.
Siloam Springs saw its sixyear streak of winning state championships snapped Saturday as a scrappy Nettleton team stunned the Lady Panthers 3-1 (21-25, 25-22, 25-21, 27-25) in front of a large crowd in Bentonville’s Tiger Arena.
When the final kill was made by Nettleton’s Allison Wyatt, who was named Most Valuable Player, Siloam Springs’ players collapsed to the gym floor in tears, shocked that the school’s run was over.
“The girls are heartbroken,” head coach Rose Cheek said. “I think probably the pressure of being the team to break the streak was too much of a burden to bear. My heart goes out to them. They’ve had so much pressure riding on them.”
Siloam Springs (30-9) looked to be in good shape after taking Game 1 25-21, but hidden in the match was a trend that came through in the final three games. Nettleton trailed 22-14 when coach Vickie Gatewood called timeout. The Lady Raiders then scored six straight points to pull within 22-20 and forcing Siloam Springs to call timeout.The Lady Panthers went on to win the match, but they were never the same after.
“After Game 1 I felt like we were in control,” Cheek said. “I knew they were the type that would fight and come back. I was shocked that our girls fell apart. That’s been a problem they’ve had all year. They haven’t adjusted well to getting beat because they haven’t been used to it.”
Nettleton (23-4) came out the aggressor in Games 2 and 3, holding comfortable margins as Siloam Springs desperately tried to get back in it.
However, the Lady Panthers seem to press as well, perhaps from the pressure that can wear on being a six-time defending champion.
“We shot ourselves in the foot,” Cheek said. “We had 12 hitting errors in Games 2 and 3.”
Wyatt had five kills in Game 2 while junior Hannah Campbell had four, and Ali Thomas had the deciding kill.
In Game 3, Siloam Springs took an early 4-1 lead after three kills from Lizzy Briones. Nettleton pulled ahead 20-16 when Tiffany Curtwright had a kill, and Campbell’s kill ended Game 3.
Game 4 proved to be a back and forth at the end with Briones and Campbell trading kills. Campbell’s fi nal kill - her 15th of the ballgame - gave Nettleton a 26-25 lead, setting up the winning kill from Wyatt.
Wyatt finished with 11 kills, while Curtwright had 12 kills.
Briones finished with 31 kills and 10 block assists, while Allie Wade had 14 kills.
“We’ve played Siloam before,” said Nettleton coach Vickie Gatewood. “We knewwhat we were walking into. We just came in with the attitude that we were going to go play volleyball. We knew they’re a good team. They’ve put us out year after year. So we were just going to go play and see what happened.”
Sports, Pages 11 on 10/31/2010