CONWAY -- Brentlee Weaver was happy when East teammate Susannah Kelley was named the team's outstanding player Wednesday night in the Arkansas High School Coaches Association All-Star game at the Farris Center.
She didn't know she was about to land a bigger prize.
"I did not know that they were going to give out another one, and I thought it was Susannah's,'' said Weaver, a 5-8 left-hander from Valley View who dominated in the East's 5-0 victory over the West and was named the game's most valuable player. "She is such a great player, and her setting was so awesome.
"I heard my name and he was holding his hand out. I had no idea what I was getting."
Weaver had 5 aces, 4 sets, 9 kills, 3 assists, 1 block and 4 digs while leading the East team to its first sweep since 2003.
"We talked in practices about being real competitive, and our coaches were great and let us scrimmage a lot in practice," said Weaver, a four-time state champion at Valley View who will play college volleyball at Arkansas State. "That got us ready to compete."
Weaver, Kelley, Jonesboro's Sydney Shelton, Paragould's Sydney Layrock, Jonesboro Westside's Shelby Wallace, Greenwood's Maddie Gilliam and Fort Smith's Northside's Nicole Knight crushed the West 25-10 and 25-8 in the first and third sets. Knight, who is also is headed to Arkansas State, finished off the third set with 18 consecutive service points.
The East won the second set 25-21. It rallied to win the fourth set 26-24 after trailing by seven points midway through and finished off the night with a 15-7 victory in the final set.
It is the third victory in four years for the East and the third time in four years the MVP has come from Jonesboro. Allison Wyatt of Nettleton won the award in 2011, and Shelley Daniel of Valley View won in 2012.
"We told our kids we had one rule this week, and that was to have fun, have fun and have fun,'' said East Coach Angie Donner of Paragould. "I just sat back and never got in the way."
Lake Hamilton's Kori Bullard was named the outstanding player for the West.
Sports on 06/26/2014