ROGERS -- Fayetteville can now turn its attention to Springdale Har-Ber.
The Lady Bulldogs easily defeated Rogers Heritage 3-0 (25-9, 25-13, 25-11) Thursday to set up a rematch at Fayetteville Tuesday between the top two volleyball teams in the 7A-West Conference. Har-Ber took over the league lead with a 3-2 victory over Fayetteville on Sept. 15 after trailing 2-1 against the nationally-ranked Lady Bulldogs.
"We're looking forward to the match on Tuesday, for sure," Fayetteville coach Jessica Phelan said. "Har-Ber is a very talented squad and emotions will be high. Both teams have had this game penciled in and it'll be a fun night for volleyball."
Haley Warner had 14 kills and Ella May Powell 38 assists for Fayetteville (23-6, 10-1), which also swept Heritage (2-18, 0-10) at home last month.
"Heritage stayed scrappy throughout the match, but I thought we had a real solid performance," Phelan said. "We feel good about how we're playing here in October."
Fayetteville, as expected, was in control against a Heritage team with only three seniors on its roster. The Lady Bulldogs won the first game 25-9 against a Heritage team that put together consecutive points only once.
Heritage's challenge Thursday was made even more difficult after the Lady War Eagles took the floor without three players, two who were out with concussions and one who missed the game after attending a funeral.
Heritage was more competitive in the second set and only trailed 6-4 early. The Lady War Eagles reached double figures but did not threatened Fayetteville, which won 25-13 to take a 2-0 series lead.
"At one point in that second set, we had three sophomores, two juniors and only one senior out there," Heritage coach Lindsey Layes said. "They fought, they adjusted, and they kept good attitudes."
Heritage again showed improvement and got to within 13-8 in the third set. But Fayetteville gradually pulled away and won 25-11 to complete the sweep.
Springdale Har-Ber def. Bentonville West 3-0
Har-Ber blew away the Lady Wolverines in a 25-7, 25-9, 25-7 sweep Thursday night, improving to 28-3 overall and 11-0 in 7A-West play.
Paige Williams led Har-Ber with 11 kills while Emily Doss added 15 digs, and Molly Kingston and Arika Johnson tallied 17 and 16 assists, respectively. Next up is the highly anticipated rematch at Fayetteville Oct. 11.
Rogers High def. Van Buren 3-0
Hannah Martin enjoyed a big night with 13 kills, 12 digs and four blocks to lead the Lady Mounties to a 25-18, 25-19, 25-22 win over Van Buren in 7A-West Conference action Thursday.
Alex Parish added six blocks for Rogers (15-11, 6-5 7A-West), while setter Madison Sherrill contributed 30 assists and 14 digs. Maddie Tauai had a team-high 16 digs, while Alex Parish led with six blocks. Makenna Bourna added three aces.
Bentonville High def. Springdale High 3-0
Bentonville celebrated its inaugural "Alumni Night" on a positive note with a 25-21, 25-16, 25-15 victory over Springdale in 7A-West action at Tiger Arena.
Jenna Morris had six kills and three blocks for Springdale (6-16-2, 3-8), while Zoe Schmidt added five kills and 13 digs. Annalia Slater added seven assists and Kaleigh Breathitt chipped in 18 digs for the Lady Red'Dogs. Individual stats for Bentonville (15-12, 7-4) were not available at press time.
Russellville def. Siloam Springs 3-2
Russellville rallied from a 2-0 deficit to spoil senior night at Siloam Springs 3-2 (17-25, 23-25, 25-18, 25-10, 15-13) in a 6A/5A-1 Conference volleyball match Thursday at Panther Activity Center.
Bailey Wilbers led the Lady Cyclones (15-7, 9-2) with 10 kills, while Tamera Rhode had eight kills and contributed with nine block assists.
Shaylon Sharp led the Lady Panthers (12-13, 7-4) with 20 kills and 36 digs, while Andrea Lowry had 42 digs. Meg Gray had 26 assists, while Chloe Price had 16 assists.
Sports on 10/07/2016