BENTONVILLE -- Fort Smith Southside volleyball coach Natalie Throneberry likes the progress her team's making.
The Mavericks grabbed the lead and momentum in the fifth set to claim a hard-fought 3-2 (21-25, 25-20, 25-21, 28-30, 15-10) 6A-West Conference road win over Bentonville on Tuesday night.
"I think our girls really learned how to fight at the end," Throneberry said. "We've had a lot of heart-breaking losses by two recently, so we're learning how to try and carry that momentum and flush a bad point, have a short-term memory.
[Don't see the video above? Click here to watch: youtube.com/embed/GHWQzdZ6zO4]
"But I'm really proud of how we came out and fought. That's the thing about playing Bentonville, you know you're going to have a fight on your hands. They don't let balls drop."
Bentonville (6-3, 0-2 6A-West) forced a fifth set with a gut-wrenching 30-28 victory in the fourth but the Lady Tigers never led after scoring the first point of the final set.
Olivia Melton hammered a match-high 20 kills and the senior's smash off the Bentonville block capped a 3-0 spurt early in the fifth for a 5-2 lead and the Mavericks (7-2-2, 2-0) never looked back.
Southside pushed its lead to 13-5 before Bentonville fought back. But the Mavericks finished it off.
Throneberry was especially pleased with how the Mavericks were able to place their serve and keep the Lady Tigers out of system offensively at times throughout the match.
"I thought we did well serving our spots," Throneberry said. "That was a strength for us last season and we did a good job with it tonight. And I think our hitters started making some really good out-of-system smart plays."
Toree Tiffee chipped in with 15 kills, 14 digs and 4 blocks. But the Mavericks got key contributions from freshman Lydia Pitts and sophomore Sophia Neihouse. Neihouse added nine kills, while Pitts came up with a match-high six blocks.
Setter Kennedy Meadors came up with a double-double with 54 assists and 12 digs. Libero Tinsley Freeman had a team-best 16 digs.
Senior Trinity Hamilton, who had a kill and an ace for the final two points to force a fifth set, led Bentonville with 18 kills, 16 digs and three aces. Maddie Lee added nine kills. London McKinney also finished with a team-high 20 digs, while Katelyn Simpson contributed 26 assists and a match-high five aces.
Fort Smith Northside 3, Little Rock Central 0
Sydney Klein put together a solid night with 13 kills, 9 digs, 5 aces and 2 blocks to lead the Lady Bears to a 25-20, 25-14, 25-19 6A-Central win over Little Rock Central.
Dynasty Andrews added 10 kills and two blocks, while Macie Grahms contributed a double-double with 38 assists and 15 digs for Northside (10-2, 2-0 6A-West). Libero Hannah Smith also had a team-high 26 digs.
Fayetteville 3, Rogers High 0
Regan Harp finished with 14 kills and Maddie LaFata added 13 to lead the Lady Purple Bulldogs to a 25-14, 25-12, 25-12 6A-West Conference win.
Ella McLeod led Rogers with five kills, while Lakyn Hawthorne added four blocks. Abby Harris also contributed nine assists and two blocks, while Madison Rhea anchored the defense with 10 digs.
Bentonville West 3, Springdale High 1
Reagan Ptacek hammered eight kills and added two aces to lead the Lady Wolverines to a 25-20, 23-25, 25-14, 25-10 win.
Trinity Luckett added six kills, six blocks and three aces for West. Bessie Swoboda also added six kills.
Springdale Har-Ber 3, Rogers Heritage 0
Kyla Clubb finished with a team-best nine digs to lead the Lady Wildcats to a 25-20, 25-14, 25-19 win.
Kinleigh Hall and Jordan Benford added eight kills each for Har-Ber, which improved to 10-0. Josie McCroskey led the defense with 15 digs, while Caylan Koons dished out 26 assists to go with nine digs and two kills. Galatia Andrew also finished with seven aces.
Greenbrier 3, Van Buren 1
Bri Ball had eight kills for Van Buren in a four-set loss to Greenbrier in 5A-West Conference play.
Bryslin Oden added five kills, while Maddie Feeny chipped in 12 digs for the Lady Pointers.
More News
6A-West volleyball standings
Team ALL CONF.
Springdale Har-Ber 10-0 2-0
Fayetteville 5-1 2-0
FS Southside 7-2-2 2-0
Bentonville West 3-7 1-1
Springdale 5-1 1-1
Bentonville 6-3 0-2
Rogers 6-4 0-2
Rogers Heritage 2-9 0-2
Tuesday’s Matches
Springdale Har-Ber def. Rogers Heritage, 3-0.
Fayetteville def. Rogers High, 3-0.
Bentonville West def. Springdale High, 3-1.
Fort Smith Southside def. Bentonville High, 3-2.
This story has been updated. It was originally published at 7:30 a.m.