SPRINGDALE -- Shortly after Springdale High's KeKe Turner delivered the game-winning kill against Rogers High onThursday, principal Pete Joenks joined the team's on-court celebration.
The Lady Red'Dogs closed out the first half of 7A-West Conference play with a 25-22, 25-17, 17-25, 25-15 home win against the Lady Mounties. Springdale moved to 8-5-1 overall and 3-4 in league matches. Rogers fell to 7-14, and 2-5 in conference.
The win snapped a three-match losing streak for coach Meagan Thompson's club. Springdale fell on the road to league powers Bentonville High and Fayetteville in the last 10 days, but sandwiched in-between was a let-down game against Van Buren in which it led 2-0. On Thursday, Springdale finally got the bad taste out of its mouth.
"It felt really good to break that losing streak," Thompson said. "We really focused in on winning this match to end round one where we wanted to be. The girls came out here and worked as a team tonight and really overcame those losses, which is what I asked them to do."
Junior Zoe Schmidt led Springdale with seven kills and 14 digs while Turner added six kills and six big blocks. Kaleigh Breathitt starred defensively, recording 41 digs. Annalia Slater and Aliyah Brown also combined for 26 assists in the win.
"They did a really good job. Overall, it was a team effort," Thompson said. "We mixed up our offense a lot, and I feel like they played well individually and stepped up."
The Lady Red'Dogs grabbed the first two sets, but dropped the third as Rogers' Hannah Martin (17 assists, eight kills) took over for stretches. But as Rogers threatened to take Springdale to a decisive fifth set, Thompson's girls regained control.
Springdale closed the fourth and final set by winning 14 of the final 18 points. A Turner kill followed by two Slater aces put the Lady Red'Dogs ahead for good. Now, as the second half of league play opens next week, Springdale now knows what to expect each night out.
"I feel like the first round went pretty good," Thompson said. "Obviously that tough loss to Van Buren kind of shook some things up in my eyes of where I wanted to be exactly. I would have liked to be sitting pretty in slot four, but that just gives us motivation and things to look forward to going into round two.
"Now we've had the opportunity to see all the teams play, we're going to be able really to focus in on what we need to improve upon for specific matches."
Kassidy Wall added eight kills for Rogers and Makenna Bouma contributed 13 digs defensively.
Bentonville High 3, Bentonville West 0
Emma Palasak recorded 11 kills and 10 digs as Bentonville completed an unbeaten run through the first half of 7A-West play with a 25-13, 25-12, 25-9 decision over West in Wolverine Arena.
Tymber Riley had nine kills and nine digs for the Lady Tigers (13-3, 7-0), who head to Jenks, Okla., for a tournament today and Saturday. Tori Lowry added six kills and 13 digs, while Baylee Barganier chipped in 27 assists for Bentonville.
Freshman Emerson Traweek had six kills for West (6-10, 3-4).
Springdale Har-Ber 3, Rogers Heritage 0
Lauren Thompson hammered a match-high 10 kills and added six digs to lead the Lady Wildcats to a 25-10, 25-15, 25-16 win over Rogers Heritage in War Eagle Arena.
Sophomore Natalie Williams added seven kills and 22 assists for Har-Ber (13-4, 5-2 7A-West). Loren Whedbee also finished with a match-high 11 digs. Freshman Sydney Frus led Heritage (3-11-1, 0-7) with seven kills. Erica Reaser added nine digs and Jacklyn Neff contributed 12 assists.
Sports on 09/22/2017