FAYETTEVILLE -- Haley Warner sat on the Fayetteville volleyball bench watching with her teammates as Rogers Heritage put on its best rally of the night. The Lady War Eagles took advantage of Warner's time on the sidelines to take control of the second game Tuesday.
But just when the game, and possibly the momentum in the match appeared in doubt, Fayetteville was able to get Warner back onto the court. The Lady Bulldogs turned to their freshman outside hitter to pace a furious attack to finish off the second set, which led to a 25-18, 27-25, 25-16 sweep of Rogers Heritage at Bulldog Arena.
"I thought we were pretty inconsistent to put ourselves in that position in the second game," Fayetteville coach Jessica Phelan said. "But it was good to see us rally out of that.
"(Haley) made a lot of big plays for us and she definitely helped us fight back right there."
Fayetteville led 17-15 in the second game before eight straight points by the Lady War Eagles (8-8-1, 3-5 7A-West) appeared to turn the tables against the Lady'Dogs. But Fayetteville broke serve and Warner re-entered the lineup, playing in her prime position up front at the net.
Quickly, the Lady Bulldogs took advantage by scoring the next six points -- three of which were Warner kills -- to tie the game, 23-23. After several back and forth exchanges to get to 25-25, it was a finesse tip by Warner that finally gave Fayetteville the lead in the game for good, at 26-25.
"We they did side out, that put Haley on the front row and she's a pretty dominant force on the front line," Rogers Heritage coach Sarah Miser said. "We tried to capitalize when she was on the back row and we scored about five or six in a row. But when they finally did side out and they rotated her to the front row, she had about three or four kills
"But we were about two points from finishing it off and we had some sloppy moments, and I would have liked to have seen us take the second game. But overall the girls didn't give up. Even in that third game we were down and we didn't give up."
The Lady War Eagles also had their chances in the first game, building an early lead and playing Fayetteville (13-8, 6-2) to within 18-16 late before the Lady'Dogs finished the set scoring seven of the final nine points.
"For sure it was definitely one of those gut check moments tonight," Phelan said. "This was big for our confidence, and now we need to carry it onto Northside."
Warner finished with 15 kills, Ella May Powell added 26 assists and 11 kills and Faith Waitsman and Olivia Thomas had five blocks each for Fayetteville.
Elleson Dunagin led Heritage with 13 kills, Sammie Cloe added 15 assists and Alye Darter chipped in with 15 digs.
Fayetteville hosts Fort Smith Northside on Thursday and Rogers Heritage plays host to Springdale High.
Sports on 10/01/2014