Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Rogers High sweeps Springdale, grabs fourth place
ROGERS — The Lady Mounties didn’t play around Tuesday night.
On its home floor, Rogers High earned a fourth place finish in the 7A-West with a decisive sweep (25-15, 25-18, 2514) of Springdale High, which finished fifth. Rogers moved to 13-19 overall and 6-8 in league matches. Springdale fell to 1311-1 and 6-8 in conference.
Rogers finished the night with 10 service aces, led by Madelyn Tauai’s five. It also didn’t shoot itself in the foot with mistakes, something coach Christina Lawrence has been preaching to her team for quite some time.
“I thought tonight was one of our more consistent matches,” Lawrence said. “We didn’t make a lot of errors, and that’s what I’ve been preaching all year. I was happy with how we came out.”
After falling behind 3-0 early in the first set, Rogers bounced back to grab a 7-4 lead behind three kills from Hannah Martin, who recorded six kills in the win alongside Emily Harris’ four. Rogers never trailed in the second set and took control of the third early on behind a Martin ace.
“I told them if they can play consistent then who knows what will happen at state,” Lawrence said. “We’ve got a pretty good seed, we’re in the good side of the bracket, and we’re exited to get there.”
Rogers was full strength Tuesday and it showed. In the teams’ first meeting, the Lady Mounties were without their starting setter with a concussion. Closing the season on a high note – winning three of its final four matches — has Lawrence optimistic for state tournament play.
“We’ve fought and battled all year it seems like, but tonight we had everybody here and everybody’s excited about state,” she said. “I told them to play like this was the last match of their career.”
Springdale was led by KeKe Turner’s block and eight kills. Lefty Lauren Bench finished with four kills and two blocks, and Kaleigh Breathitt two aces and 16 digs.
Rogers hosts Fort Smith Southside on Thursday in its regular season finale.
Bentonville High 3, Bentonville West 0
Tymber Riley had 12 kills and Emma Palasak added 10 as Bentonville claimed the outright 7A-West title with a 2513, 25-15, 25-15 sweep over West in Tiger Arena.
Riley added 11 digs for Bentonville (29-4, 13-1), which already earned the league’s top seed in next week’s Class 7A state tournament in Conway. Tori Lowry added 10 digs, while Baylee Barganier chipped in a team-high 37 assists and three assists.
Kerryann Ptacek had six kills and two aces for West (13-19, 4-10), which earned the No. 6 seed in the state tournament when Fayetteville defeated Van Buren. Kortney Puckett had four kills, while Winnie Spurlock had 18 assists.
Springdale Har-Ber 3, Rogers Heritage 0
Har-Ber cruised to a 25-14, 25-10, 2512 sweep of the Lady War Eagles Tuesday on Senior Night, locking up the 7A-West’s two seed in next week’s state tournament.
Lauren Thompson finished with a team-high 12 kills and Jayci Carpenter added 11 as Har-Ber notched its 11th consecutive win to close the regular season. Natalie Williams also recorded 19 assists and Kaitlyn Schemel contributed seven digs.