State Volleyball Roundup
Class 5A
Nettleton def. Farmington 3-2
Farmington, the No. 4 seed from the 5A-West, nearly pulled a second state tournament upset on Wednesday.
The Lady Cardinals pushed the No. 3 seed from the 5A-East to five sets with a 25-23 win in the fourth set. But they fell just short 16-14 in the fifth.
The Lady Raiders and Farmington went back and forth in their extremely entertaining five-set contest before Nettleton's Alden Weeks ended the match with a well-placed soft kill for the win.
Farmington took the opening game 25-18 before Nettleton took the next two 25-12 and 25-15.
In game three Nettleton held an 18-14 lead before Farmington got going and rallied to win 25-23.
The fifth game was tight throughout as Nettleton jumped out to a 9-4 advantage before Farmington rallied and pulled even at 11.
Nettleton (24-11) went up 14-12 but Farmington wouldn't go away once again finding a way to knot the match at 14.
Weeks, a 6-foot senior, slammed a kill for Nettleton to put her team up 15-14 and then softly placed a kill to the opposite side of the court for the final point of the match.
Farmington coach Marshall Ward was proud of his team for its effort.
"We played a great game and gave them a lot more then they expected," Ward said.
Sherra Irvin and Alexis Shelley each had 13 kills for Farmington (14-8) and Maria McPherson added 10 kills.
Farmington advanced to the quarterfinals with a four-set win over 5A-South champion Hot Springs Lakeside in the first round.
Class 4A
Shiloh Christian def. Jonesboro Westside 3-1
The Lady Saints rallied from behind in game three and rolled to a 25-21, 15-25, 25-22, 25-23 win against Jonesboro Westside in the Class 4A State Volleyball Tournament in Lonoke.
Shiloh Christian (28-3) trailed Westside 21-19 in the third game before surging to the win by outscoring Westside 6-1 to take a 2-1 lead. The fourth game was close all the way, but the Lady Saints closed strong to advance to today's semifinals.
"Allie Pitts we back and brought us back with tough serves in the third and fourth games," Shiloh Christian coach Nathan Bodenstein said. "Tori Richards and Morgan Stoecklein were unreal at the net and we refused to be defeated.
"I'm so proud of their heart and desire and their will to win."
Junior Reagan Robinson, who missed basically four matches over the past two weeks with an ankle injury, returned on Wednesday and immediately made her presence felt with a match-high 18 kills. Senior Tori Richards added 16 kills, while Morgan Stoecklein added 11 kills and 13 digs. Celestene Seabag had 13 digs and Allie Pitts had 26 assists.
"Reagan really stepped up big-time," Bodenstein said. "She was mentally tough and I'm proud of how she battled."
The Lady Saints will take on Harrisburg at 6 p.m. today with the winner advancing to Saturday's state championship match in Hot Springs.
Other 4A-1 members Prairie Grove and Huntsville both lost in the quarterfinals. Mena swept Prairie Grove 3-0, while Harrisburg outlasted Huntsville in five sets.
Mena def. Prairie Grove 3-0
The defending state runnerup Lady Bearcats rolled to a sweep (25-17, 25-9, 25-9) over Prairie Grove.
Mena (29-2) will take on Berryville in today's 4 p.m. semifinal.
Sports on 10/30/2014