Senior-laden Malvern downs FL by a set
FOUNTAIN LAKE — Fountain Lake’s youth played significant role Thursday as the Lady Cobras dropped their volleyball match, 3-2, against visiting Malvern at Irvin J. Bass Gymnasium.
After graduating much of the team’s offense and back-row passers, the Lady Cobras (1-2) could not overcome the senior-laden Lady Leopard (2-1) squad, despite taking a 25-14 win in the fourth set to force the fifth.
“We watched Malvern Tuesday night, and it was not the same team,” said Fountain Lake head coach Tina Moore. “Everybody brings us their best game, which is good for us. We want that, but, like they said, they always play their best against us because they want to beat us.
“We just can’t pass the ball well right now. We are working on passing.
… That’s our downfall right now. We’re trying to figure out how to service-receive well enough to play up well enough to take a quality swing, and we’re not getting it.”
Malvern head coach Trish Glover said she was pleased with the way her team recovered from Tuesday night’s 3-1 loss to Ashdown.
“We didn’t play very well, and then tonight, we really played hard,” Glover said. “They wanted it, and it makes a difference. I have four seniors, and they really showed leadership. We got beat in that fourth game really bad, but we came back and took care of business. I was really proud of them. I love Coach Moore. She’s like my sister. We’ve always had rivalries, and it’s just bittersweet.”
Freshman setter Sophie Skinner rolled with the opening service in the fourth set to give the Lady Cobras a 7-0 lead before Malvern got on the board, but Fountain Lake immediately broke serve. Carena Bledsoe then rolled off three more service points to give Fountain Lake an 11-1 lead.
Malvern only ever picked up three points in a row, pulling within 20-13 before Skinner and Bledsoe put the game away.
The two teams traded sets all night, with Malvern taking the first, 25-23.
Fountain Lake took a 5-2 lead early before rolling to an 11-5 buffer. The Lady Leopards recovered under the service of Kym Summerville to knot the score at 14-14 before the teams consistently traded service before Malvern went on to take the lead.
“I don’t think our defense hurt us,” Moore explained. “I think our service receive hurt us. Defense was really OK. They got a few hits on us, but not anything not manageable.
“We did pretty good earlier this summer, but everybody was kind of fresh. We’re struggling with it right now.”
The two teams bounced back and forth for much of the second set with neither team taking more than a three-point lead before Skinner served four straight to take the 25-20 win.
Malvern recovered to take a 2-1 lead with a 25-20 win in the third set after another back-and-forth set, setting up Fountain Lake’s runaway fourth. Summerville’s service in the fifth set secured the win for the Lady Leopards.
Skinner led the Lady Cobras with 23 assists, 25 digs, four kills and a block. Junior libero Erin Graves had 21 digs and a kill, Emoree Martin had 22 digs with 12 kills, two blocks and a pair of aces and Presley Hamric had nine kills and nine digs.
“I’m not disappointed in our net play,” Moore said. “I’m not disappointed in my young kids. At one point, I had a ninth-grader and three sophomores out there. I know they’re going to play tentative when it counts, and those things we’re going to have to fight through and get experience. We’ve just have to receive better.”
Malvern was led in the back by senior Charlie Sealy with 39 digs, seven kills, three blocks and an assist.
“Charlie Sealy played really well,” Glover said. “She played a really good game tonight. Tonight, we finally got smart enough to use her a lot more than we had.”
Senior Kealy Barber had 29 assists with 18 digs and three blocks, Tiaunica Henderson added 30 digs and junior Diamond Ollison had eight kills, three digs, two blocks and three aces.
“She mixed it up really well,” Glover said of Barber. “She served really well. I was really proud of her.”
Malvern will host Jessieville Tuesday at Bill Hunt Fieldhouse for eighth-grade, freshman, junior varsity and varsity matches starting at 4 p.m. The Lady Cobras have a ninth-grade and junior varsity match against Hot Springs Monday at 4:30 p.m. before hosting Bryant Tuesday for JV and varsity matches starting at 5 p.m.
Junior Varsity
Fountain Lake took the JV match in two sets, rolling to wins of 25-18 and 25-18.
Malvern took the early lead, 3-1, in the first set, but the service of Gracie Westerman and Lenaya Hefner propelled the Lady Cobras to the win.
The second set was much more even early on, but Hefner’s service, along with Adi Overacker’s, helped the Lady Cobras take the second set.
Hefner had 11 service points with three aces and three digs, Gabrella Gonyer had eight digs with five kills and Sierra Peters had 11 digs.
9th grade
The freshman Lady Cobras took two 25-13 wins over the Lady Cubs.
Kamryn Whiley led the Lady Cobras with seven service points and two aces. Brayden White had seven digs, Elizabeth Roarke had six with four assists and two kills and Jaylin Rhoades had five digs, two kills, two assists and two aces. Kara Martin and Emma Kaumeyer also posted an ace apiece.
8th grade
Jordan Lancaster led the Lady Cobra eighth-grade squad in the team’s 2-0 win over Malvern. Lancaster had nine service points, and Laney Jessup had five kills.
The team posted wins of 25-18 and 25-10.