Fayetteville gets hot Har-Ber in 7A final

All interested parties agree that Springdale Har-Ber is playing its best volleyball of the season.

What remains to be determined is whether the Lady Wildcats have improved enough to take down 7A-West champion Fayetteville.

“This is definitely our peak,” Har-Ber senior setter Elizabeth Williams said. “We’ve worked really hard this past week and we’ve really grown as a team. … Our chemistry is at its best and our defense has really picked up.”

“Their defense is really, really good,” Fayetteville junior middle blocker Faith Waitsman said of Har-Ber. “That’s what we’re going to have to look out for. We’ve going to have to find spots where we can get points, but we’ve played them so many times that we know them so well that I think we can find a way to pull through.”

Har-Ber (28-5-2) and Fayetteville (33-3-1) will play for the Class 7A state title today at Bank of the Ozarks Arena in Hot Springs.

Today’s first championship match between 5A-East rivals Valley View and Batesville will begin at 11 a.m. Har-Ber and Fayetteville are scheduled for a 3 p.m. start.

Fayetteville went through the 7A-West regular season 14-0, beating Har-Ber 3-2 on Sept. 10 and 3-1 on Oct. 6, which was the Lady Wildcats’ last loss. Har-Ber has won its past eight matches, including back-to-back 3-2 state tournament victories over Conway and 2014 state champion Bentonville.

“They’ve had a great tournament,” Fayetteville Coach Jessica Phelan said of HarBer.

“They are a team that is athletic. They’ve got the total package — a good defense, a good setter and they look like they’re expecting to play well. We expect they’ll fight for every point.”

Har-Ber is also balanced. In Thursday’s victory over Bentonville, the Lady Wildcats had four players — sophomore Lauren Thompson, senior Emily Thompson, junior Klaire Trainor and junior Paige Williams — with 10 or more kills.

The Lady Wildcats had dropped two 3-0 matches to Bentonville earlier in the season.

“I was really proud of the fight,” said Har-Ber Coach Shyrah Schisler, whose team is back in the state championship match for the first time since 2009. “My big thing is grinding out for defense. Our blocking and defense really stepped up [vs. Bentonville].”

Fayetteville enters today’s game having won 17 of its past 18 matches with the one blemish a tie. Sophomore Haley Warner has compiled a team-high 448 kills, while junior Abbie Kathol (271), senior Hadley Spresser (224) and Waitsman (206) all have more than 200 kills.