FAYETTEVILLE -- Abbie Kathol led a balanced Fayetteville attack Monday, as the Lady Bulldogs opened 7A-West Conference volleyball play with a 3-0 sweep (25-13, 25-20, 25-22) against Bentonville at Bulldog Arena.
Kathol, a senior outside hitter, produced big plays on both sides of the net with 12 digs, 10 kills and five assists. She led Fayetteville to a strong start in the first set, as Bentonville couldn't recover from six service errors in game one while falling into a 15-6 deficit.
"We really had good balance," Fayetteville coach Jessica Phelan said. "We got a big night from Abbie Kathol, which was good to see. When teams focus on Haley (Warner) we were able to spread the ball around and get production from other players and I thought we were able to maintain a high level of play.
"So all in all, it was a good night."
Bentonville (6-3, 0-1 7A-West) made its strongest push in the second set. But after building a 20-17 lead, Fayetteville used an 8-0 run -- sparked by key blocks on defense by Warner and Lauren Holmes -- for a 25-20 victory to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
"I don't know where my team went at times," Bentonville coach Michelle Smith said. "From the strides we made this weekend to where we were today, it was six individuals out there and it wasn't the same team I saw playing on Saturday.
"Fayetteville is a great team and taking nothing away from them. But we played some great teams on Saturday (in our tournament) and it was completely different. So we're going to learn from this and learn from our mistakes. There's things that will stick out from this and we'll work on it in practice and get better."
Fayetteville (3-0, 1-0) closed the third and final set out much like it did in the second set, using a late push and a final rally for the 25-22 win to complete the sweep.
Warner finished with nine kills and three blocks. Olivia Wales added 20 digs, Ella May Powell contributed 24 assists and Faith Waitsman also chipped in with nine kills for the Lady'Dogs.
"Lauren Holmes playing volleyball for the first time as a 12th grader and she came up with some huge blocks for us out there," Phelan said. "She's only going to get better and better.
"Overall I just thought it was a complete team effort."
Emma Palasak led Bentonville's offense with 10 kills. Baylee Barganier finished with 22 assists and Tori Lowry added 20 digs.
Sports on 08/30/2016