Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Benton knocks off Valley View
HOT SPRINGS — A plugand-plug mentality helped Benton complete its title task Saturday.
The Lady Panthers ripped shot after shot to build a cushion and got some momentum-shifting plays out of a host of players late to beat perennial powerhouse Valley View, 25-21, 26-24, 25-23, and win the Class 5A state volleyball championship at Bank OZK Arena.
The victory capped a dominant season for Benton (29-1), which lost a five-set battle to Little Rock Christian in last year’s state final but bounced back to capture its first championship since 2009 by holding off the state’s premier program in front of a crowd of nearly 1,500.
“I’ll take this one much better,” a jubilant Benton Coach Michelle Shoppach said in reference to losing in the 2021 final. “Our kids just kept plugging, kept plugging, and never quit. [Valley View] gave us a hard time, and we had a really hard time getting in a rhythm all night long.
“But when we could get going, it was hard to stop us.”
It was hard for teams to stop Benton all season. The Lady Panthers beat every team it faced, and its lone loss came a week ago to Class 6A
semifinalist Conway in a return match after Benton had beaten the Lady Wampus Cats earlier in the season.
The Lady Panthers continued that dominance Saturday behind a big- hitting performance from a surplus of players. Abigail Lagemann drilled 17 of her team’s 46 kills, with the bulk of those barely touched by their counterparts. The senior also had 16 digs and was chosen as the Most Valuable Player.
Isabella Lagemann chipped in with eight kills and six digs, Khenedi Guest added nine kills and Henley Hooks had seven kills and six digs for Benton.
Valley View (29-5) pushed the Lady Panthers despite losing all three sets.
The Lady Blazers, who had won seven straight state titles and were making their 20th consecutive appearance in the championship match, battled in the first two sets and led for the majority of the third. Valley View also suffered a big blow midway through that decisive period when Riley Owens, one its top setters, went down with a leg injury.
“I expected it to be a close matchup because I knew [Benton] was a powerhouse team,” Valley View Coach Margie Smith said. “We’re a defensive team, and we found a way to stay in it and made it a close match. If my other setter [Owens] had not gone down, and we didn’t have to switch up our offense, it may have been a different outcome to where we pushed it to four or five sets.
“But these girls have so much fight in them. A lot of people didn’t expect them to be in the finals this year, and for them to fight, work so hard and put themselves in position to be playing for a state title, it’s incredible and speaks to their hard work and dedication.”
Morghan Weaver had 13 kills and eight digs to lead Valley View, which has collected 16 state championships in Smith’s 23-year tenure as coach. Micah McMillan followed with 10 kills and eight digs.
Eighteen of the Lady Panthers’ first-set points came off kills, with Abigail Lagemann leading the way with six. Benton
never fell behind in the first set and led 14-9 at one point, but Valley View didn’t waiver.
The Lady Blazers tied the match at 21-21 and was serving for the lead, but a hammer from Abigail Lagemann started a string of four straight points to finalize the set.
The Lady Panthers continued peppering Valley View with huge shots and ran out to a 9-3 advantage in set No. 2 following a winner from Pressley Pallette. Yet, the Lady Blazers countered with wellplaced hits of their own. They eventually seized a 24-23 lead and was on serve to take the set before Abigail Lagemann again came up with a big shot to knot it back up. Another block from Pallette gave Benton the advantage until a kill from Henley Hooks gave the Lady Panthers a two-set margin.
The third set was tied four times until an error allowed Benton to move out front 2322. Hooks delivered an ace on the Lady Panthers’ ensuing service game, and Pallette would later ice it — after a Weaver winner — with a kill.
“It’s my first state title,” Shoppach said. “We’ve been close before, and I hope it takes our program to the next step. This is a super team with the leadership that I’ve got. I hope the juniors and sophomores that were able to experience this will carry it on to next year and the year after.”