LONOKE -- Delanie Tipton left her mark on Jonesboro Westside Thursday afternoon at the Gina Cox Center.
Tipton contributed 36 kills, 7 blocked and 13 digs as the Huntsville Lady Eagles rallied for a 3-2 victory over Westside in the Class 4A state tournament semifinals.
"Delanie has been a go-to player for us all year," Huntsville Coach Angie Baker said. "She's a senior. The game is important to her. And when the game is on the line, she shows up and takes care of business."
Huntsville (22-13-1) won the 1-hour, 59-minute match 25-23, 25-27, 16-25, 25-23, 15-13.
The Lady Eagles, a No. 3 seed coming into this week's tournament, will play Brookland in Saturday's 4A championship game at the Hot Springs Convention Center.
"We all decided we wanted it; we wanted it more than anybody else," said Tipton, a senior middle blocker who had eight of her kills in the fifth game. "We had to make up our minds that that's what we wanted and nobody was going to take it away from us."
Westside Coach Devin Montgomery said Tipton was difficult to stop when she was in the front row.
"We tried to switch things up to try to get a little bit of a block on her, but every time she was on the front row, we knew we were in trouble," Montgomery said. "She made the difference."
Senior middle blocker Laura Hall led the Warriors (26-7-1) with 18 kills and 26 digs. Junior setter Kaitlyn Jackson handed out 43 assists. Senior Hayley Skyes posted a team-high 31 digs. Senior Emery Davis made 11 kills and served two aces. Senior Megan Howlett made 10 kills.
Baker said she was confident the Lady Eagles were up for a strong finish even when they were trailing 2-1.
"I knew if we could get ourselves in a solid position that we could fight through some things," Baker said. "I wasn't nervous, but I was anxious to get back on the floor for the fourth game."
The two teams split the first 14 points before Huntsville scored four consecutive points to take an 11-7 advantage. Westside never quite recovered.
"My girls just stopped communicating," Montgomery said. "That's why they got those points and that's why I called a timeout. We had to regroup and refocus. I asked them 'Are we done?' They said they weren't, but we could not catch up."
Junior outside hitter Mattie Thompson added 15 kills for Huntsville while senior Darian Suffridge had team-highs in assists (34) and digs (18). Sophomore Dezeray Suffridge served three aces.
BROOKLAND 3, MENA 0
Brookland middle hitter Sydney Stephenson was suffering from flu-like conditions, but it didn't seem to bother her.
Stephenson made a team-high 11 kills and blocked two shots as Brookland swept Mena 25-18, 25-22, 25-15, in a battle of Bearcats.
Brookland Coach Nancy Rodriguez said Stephenson "played through whatever she had" even though she was sick all morning.
Brookland (25-9-1) looked sharp against Mena (28-8) even though it played less than 24 hours after a 2-hour, five-game victory over defending state champion Shiloh Christian,
"The girls have been on a mission and I thought they wanted it and I thought they played with heart," Rodriguez said. "We played a tough schedule and we've played a lot of marathon matches. We've trained well for this."
Mena, which picked up 10 kills from both senior outside hitter Sealy Thigpen and junior middle hitter Grace Wagner, turned a 17-10 deficit into a 22-22 tie in the second game. Brookland, however, scored the game's final three points to take a 2-0 match advantage.
Brookland trailed 9-8 in the third game but took control by scoring 14 of the next 17 points.
Mena hurt itself by making 13 service errors compared to only three for Brookland.
Freshman Lauren Payne had 10 kills and led Brookland with 15 assists. Junior Jacy Harris led Brookland in digs with 16. Senior Maddie Archer handed out 14 assists and 11 digs. Juniors Taylor Ross and Madi Riddle each scored five kills.
Sports on 10/28/2016