BENTONVILLE -- Michelle Smith could sense the second set might slip away from Bentonville's volleyball team Thursday night, and she was not about to let it happen.
The Lady Tigers coach called a timeout after Fayetteville scored five straight points to cut the Bentonville lead to 20-17. The strategy worked. Bentonville scored the next five points to claim that set, then held off the Lady Purple'Dogs to claim a three-set sweep during 7A-West Conference action in Tiger Arena.
"I just saw us slowly self-destructing off of our errors," Smith said. "Fayetteville was serving much tougher in that game. We were still ahead, but I knew if I didn't stop it then, it could get ugly really fast.
"I just gave the players a chance to regroup and refocus, and they went out there and finished the job."
Freshman Emma Palasak had two kills, and Anna LeDuc added a block after the timeout as Bentonville (19-2-2, 7-0) went on to win the second set. Smith did the same thing when Fayetteville (12-8, 5-2) made a similar move in the third set, and the Lady Tigers went on to complete the 25-13, 25-17, 25-19 decision.
The win gives Bentonville a two-game lead over Fayetteville, Fort Smith Southside and Springdale Har-Ber in the league standings as the 7A-West reached the midway point of conference play.
"It's a young team, and I felt for some time that they would be better in October than September," Fayetteville coach Jessica Phelan said about her team. "But this week is one where we welcomed some kids to the big leagues of the 7A-West.
"They need to learn from that and do the things we need to do as a ballclub to improve and reach that next level."
Smith labelled her team's performance as "fiery" in the early stages as Bentonville used a 13-3 run to take control of the first set and led 22-10 after a kill by LeDuc. The Lady Tigers then jumped out to a 9-3 lead in the second set and owned a 19-11 cushion following Lauren Bareis' kill, but Fayetteville went on its run to make things interesting, with freshman Haley Warner's kill making it a 20-17 game.
A similar situation happened in the third set when Bentonville took an 8-2 lead and forced Phelan to call timeout. Fayetteville then closed the gap to 17-15 on a kill by freshman Ella May Powell before the Lady Tigers scored the next four points.
"When you've been around the girls this many years, you can read them like a book," Smith said. "I could see their little tendencies starting to happen, and those timeouts usually help them regain their focus."
LeDuc finished with 13 kills, 3 blocks and 14 digs to lead Bentonville, while Sadie Pate added 11 kills. Warner paced Fayetteville with 11 kills, while Powell chipped in 6.
Sports on 09/26/2014