BENTONVILLE -- The 7A-West Conference volleyball season has barely started, but Bentonville High likes its current view atop the standings.
The Lady Tigers claimed sole possession of first place by handing Springdale Har-Ber its first league loss, defeating the Lady Wildcats 3-0 during Thursday night's match in Tiger Arena.
Bentonville (9-3, 3-0 7A-West) relied on senior leadership and experience throughout the match against a younger Har-Ber team. The Lady Tigers feasted on Lady Wildcats miscues and converted them into scoring runs, which helped them take the first two sets en route to a 25-21, 25-15, 25-23 victory.
"We knew coming into conference play we had a rough first two weeks of play and some great competition," Bentonville coach Michelle Smith said. "I'm proud of how the girls have fought through the hard games, the tough games, the high-competition games.
"It's definitely not easy sailing the rest of the first round, but it does feel nice to have those two games under our belt. It's nice to have those wins and have those wins at home, but it's only going to get harder. Every team gets better in the second round of conference, so we still need to improve every day."
Bentonville strung together runs of five and six straight points and took a 20-11 lead on a combo block by Tymber Riley and Grayce Joyce en route to winning the first set. The Lady Tigers then spotted Har-Ber three points to start the second set before running off nine unanswered points -- six off Lady Wildcat errors -- and took the lead for good.
Har-Ber (9-3, 2-1) did a much better job of keeping Bentonville from another offensive run in the third set. The Lady Wildcats held their share of the lead throughout the set and had a 22-20 edge after Mackenzie White's kill, but Bentonville scored five of the next six points to complete the sweep.
"I think we came in unprepared at times," Har-Ber coach Shyrah Schisler said. "We had a very good scouting report on them, and -- I hate to say this -- we got intimidated early and let them use their offensive force against us.
"We're young, so we're going to make mistakes and have little things happen. We shouldn't have those kind of mistakes, and I think it was a good learning experiences. Having the mentality to come back in that third set really showed me there's a lot of fight there."
Emma Palasak had 10 kills and 17 digs, while Riley had 10 kills and Tori Lowry contributed 9 kills and 15 digs for Bentonville. Lauren Thompson had 13 kills and 8 digs for Har-Ber, while Jayci Carpenter added 10 kills and Kaitlyn Schemel had 11 digs.
Springdale High 3, Bentonville West 1
Trailing 16-10 in the fourth set Thursday at home, Springdale staged a comeback behind big nights from Zoe Schmidt, KeKe Turner and Jessie Davis.
Springdale (7-2-1) moved to 2-1 in 7A-West play with a 25-23, 25-20, 23-25, 28-26 win against the Wolverines. Schmidt led the Lady Red'Dogs with 11 kills, 21 digs and three blocks while Turner added eight kills. Davis and Lauren Bench finished with seven kills each as well.
For West (6-6, 1-2 7A-West), Kortney Puckett recorded a match-high 16 kills. Emerson Traweek added nine kills and Kerryann Ptacek finished with seven kills and three aces.
Van Buren 3, Rogers Heritage 0
Van Buren claimed a tough 25-20, 25-18, 27-25 over the Lady War Eagles.
Lora Brown and Tayonna Wilson led Heritage with seven kills each, while Brooklyn Head and Sydney Frus chipped in six each. Head also had eight blocks and Wilson added six. Jaclyn Neff dished out 25 assists, while Berenice Morals led with 16 digs.
Fayetteville 3, Rogers High 0
The Lady Purple Bulldogs notched a 25-14, 25-22, 25-18 win over the Lady Mounties.
Hannah Martin led Rogers with six kills, nine digs and two aces. Madison James added three blocks.
Siloam Springs 3, Alma 0
Siloam Springs picked up its second straight win with a 25-22, 25-23, 25-17 sweep of Alma at Charles B. Dyer Arena.
Junior Ellie Lampton and senior Allie Bowman each led with nine kills, while senior Shaylon Sharp had seven kills. Lampton had 10 digs, while Sharp had nine digs. Chloe Price had 29 assists.
The Lady Panthers (3-9, 2-1 5A/6A District 1) had 17 aces as a team, led by Kenlie Noel's six aces.
Sports on 09/08/2017