ROGERS — The monkey — or in this case a Tiger — is finally off Fayetteville’s back.

After two consecutive seasons which ended with heartbreaking losses to Bentonville in the Class 7A state finals, Fayetteville ended its run of tournament bad luck against the Lady Tigers on Thursday.

Facing Bentonville in the 7A state tournament semifinals, the Lady Bulldogs fought off nerves and overcame a brief second set breakdown in a 25-16, 24-26, 25-19, 25-19 win in War Eagle Arena.

The victory sends Fayetteville (34-3) to the championship match for the third consecutive year, where it will face Fort Smith Southside at 7 p.m. Saturday at Valley View High School.

And perhaps just as important to the Lady Bulldogs, the win finally finishes their tough tournament history against rival Bentonville.

“We obviously have a lot of respect for Bentonville and for their program and they are a formidable opponent,” Fayetteville coach Jessica Phelan said. “Even though we were 3-0 against them this season coming into this match, the records should have been 0-0 because it was tournament time.

“They played us a great match, and I’m just pleased to come away with the win.”

Nerves appeared to affect both teams early in the match — and perhaps Fayetteville even more — as the Lady Tigers (24-10) built an early 9-5 lead in the opening set. But the Lady Bulldogs settled in and closed the first set by scoring 20 of the final 29 points for the 25-16 win.

After Bentonville again took charge early in the second set, Fayetteville rallied and appeared on the verge on taking control. But despite sitting at match-point at 24-22 in the second, Bentonville scored four unanswered points to even the match with 26-24 win to tie the match at 1-1.

“It was kind of a bitter ending there (in the second set),” Phelan said. “But we can only control what’s in front of us and we just kept playing.”

The Lady Tigers fought Fayetteville close in the each of the final two sets, before late runs in both games allowed the Lady Bulldogs to pull away for the win.

“I’m very proud of our girls,” Bentonville coach Michelle Smith said. “This one game does not sum up our season, and we did some amazing things this season with some amazing players.

“Hats off to Fayetteville. They have a great team this year and they fought very hard, and so did our girls. We just came up a little short in the end. But I’m proud of our girls.”

Mikayla Avery had 21 kills and Hannah Pinter added 17 for Fayetteville and Aubrey Edie finished with 40 assists. Andrea Kathol and Taylor Crockett also contributed 14 and 12 digs, respectively.

Haley Seyfarth led Bentonville with 29 assists and Hailey McNee added 15 kills. Sabrina Shepherd also chipped in with 14 digs.

Fort Smith Southside 3, Conway 0

Drew Jones had 21 kills and Sarita Stegall contributed 31 assists and 7A-Central No. 3 seed Fort Smith Southside held off a furious Conway rally in the first game, then finished off the Lady Wampus Cats in straight sets, 25-23, 25-19, 25-22 in the Class 7A state volleyball tournament semifinals in War Eagle Arena. 

Conway, the top-seed from the 7A-Central, trailed by seven points midway through the first game but rallied to tie the score before the Confederettes closed out by scoring three of the final four points. After Southside won the second set in more convincing fashion, Conway again tried one final rally in the third game. But despite playing to within one point of Southside late in the set, the Confederettes pulled away.

Taylor Hamilton also added 17 kills for Southside in the win.