6A STATE VOLLEYBALL: Fort Smith Northside downs Rogers to advance to quarterfinals

Fort Smith Northside players celebrate after defeating Rogers 3-1 (25-22, 25-20, 19-25, 25-14) in the opening round of the Class 6A State Volleyball Tournament Tuesday at Northside Arena. Go to nwaonline.com/211027Daily/ to see more photos. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Hank Layton)
Fort Smith Northside players celebrate after defeating Rogers 3-1 (25-22, 25-20, 19-25, 25-14) in the opening round of the Class 6A State Volleyball Tournament Tuesday at Northside Arena. Go to nwaonline.com/211027Daily/ to see more photos. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Hank Layton)

FORT SMITH -- Fort Smith Northside Coach Matt Waack admitted to being a little anxious awaiting the start of his team's Class 6A volleyball state tournament game Tuesday.

But his Lady Bears made themselves at home in their new arena with a 3-1 (25-22, 25-20, 19-25, 25-14) win over Rogers.

Waack said he couldn't wait for the noon match to get going, but his team showed no nerves.

[Don't see the video above? Click here to watch: youtube.com/watch?v=b7k5oir07Kc]

"We had a lot of downtime this morning waiting to play," Waack said. "But I thought we came out strong."

Northside, the No. 4 seed from the 6A-Central Conference, advances to take on 6A-West champion Springdale Har-Ber in the quarterfinals at noon today. The Lady Wildcats swept the Lady Bears 3-0 in a regular-season matchup.

Waack said there was plenty of excitement playing the state tournament with students in the crowd at the new facility. Northside (25-11) hadn't been able to play in the new arena because of construction delays tied to supply chain issues until its match against crosstown rival Fort Smith Southside last week.

"It was huge," Waack said. "One, it's a great environment. It's great to get the win in front of our student body. I think they were really into it and enjoying it. It was also great for these seniors to get that win in this facility since it is their senior year and they haven't got to play in it much."

Rogers, the No. 5 seed from the West, appeared to wrestle some momentum away from Northside by taking the third set. But that was short-lived as the Lady Bears scored five of the first six points of the fourth set and went on to the victory.

Waack said he considered making a couple of lineup changes after the second set, but talked himself out of it. But he made those changes after dropping the third set, and that worked out well for the Lady Bears.

"A couple things didn't go our way," Waack said. "That's one thing we've really fought with is we can let an error or two define us, especially when you've got a big lead.

"We made some little changes, kind oftweaked where we started and flipped those middles around. That seemed to bring us some more alive and got us some better matchups."

Sydney Klein and Za'Kari Gurule' were a nice 1-2 punch offensively for the Lady Bears, each registering double-doubles. Gurule', a 5-8 junior, finished with a team-high 13 kills to go with 12 digs, while Klein, a senior, added 12 kills and 14 digs.

"That's probably my favorite thing, I've got an outside and a right side playing all the way around getting double digit digs and double-digit kills," Waack said. "That's hard to do. It takes some work."

Dynasty Andrews was also strong in the middle with nine kills and a match-high five blocks.

Seniors Macie Grams and Hannah Smith also came up big for Northside. Grams, the setter, dished out 45 assists and added 12 digs. Smith anchored the defense with match-highs of 44 digs and five aces.

Abby Harris, a 6-2 senior, led the Lady Mounties (17-13-6) with a triple-double. She finished with a match-high 14 kills, 14 digs and 17 assists. Ella McLeod and Lakyn Hawthorne added nine kills each. Madison Rhea led the defense with 26 digs.

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Class 6A

At Fort Smith

Tuesday’s Scores

at Fort Smith Northside

Match 1: C4 Fort Smith Northside def. W5 Rogers, 3-1 (25-20, 25-22, 19-25, 25-14).

Match 2: W3 Fort Smith Southside def. C6 North Little Rock, 3-0 (25-8, 25-12, 25-15).

Match 3: W4 Bentonville High def. C5 Little Rock Central, 3-0 (25-10, 25-15, 25-15).

Match 4: W6 Bentonville West def. C3 Mount St. Mary, 3-0 (25-16, 25-9, 25-17).

Today’s Matches

at Fort Smith Southside

Match 5: W1 Springdale Har-Ber vs. Fort Smith Northside, noon.

Match 6: C2 Cabot vs. Fort Smith Southside, 2 p.m.

Match 7: C1 Conway vs. Bentonville 4 p.m.

Match 8: W2 Fayetteville vs. Bentonville West, 6 p.m.

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