SILOAM SPRINGS -- Siloam Springs cleaned up its hitting errors in a big way.
Coming off a 3-1 loss to Rogers High on Thursday, in which the Lady Panthers had 28 hitting errors, Siloam Springs trimmed that number down to 7 in a 3-0 sweep (25-11, 25-11, 25-18) of Fort Smith Northside at Panther Activity Center.
"When we settle down and don't force things, we play much better," said Siloam Springs volleyball coach Rose Cheek-Willis. "Our attacking tonight was much more under control."
Senior middle blocker Baily Cameron had 10 kills to lead the Lady Panthers (1-2), who played with an adjustment in their rotation up front.
Senior Mirna Torres moved from middle blocker to the right side, while fellow 12th grader Laura Salley moved to the middle. It seemed to pay off as Torres had nine kills and Salley and sophomore Arika Johnson each had six kills.
Johnson also had 11 assists, while Sidney Avery had 17 assists for Siloam Springs. Taylor Gay led defensively with 11 digs.
The Lady Panthers controlled the match from the very beginning, leading 6-2 early in game one before going on a 16-3 run to open up a 22-6 lead and hold on for the 25-11 win.
A 16-6 run in game two allowed the Lady Panthers to open up an 18-8 lead and eventually another 25-11 win.
Siloam Springs got off to a slow start in game three as Northside led 9-3 after a kill from Tiarra McDonald and a pair of Lady Panthers errors. That led Cheek-Willis to call a timeout.
The Lady Panthers responded with a 15-1 run to go up 18-10. Northside clawed back within 22-17 when Cameron and Krysten Hall combined for a block for a 23-17 lead. Hall added a kill and Salley finished off the match with another kill to secure the win.
"It was good for us to know that we can climb back out of a hole," Cheek-Willis said.
McDonald led Northside (1-2) with 10 kills.
Northside coach Jessica Waack said the Grizzlies' starting libero Jaynee Alston hurt her knee in practice Tuesday morning and wasn't able to play.
"That really changed our lineup," Waack said. "In the third set we started doing some good things. We waited too long to get that kind of play."
Northside opens 7A-West Conference play at Bentonville on Thursday, while Siloam Springs begins 7A/6A-Central Conference play with a home match against Mount St. Mary.
Sports on 09/03/2014