Fayetteville battles back to capture Class 7A state volleyball title.
HOT SPRINGS — Ella May Powell had plenty of options, and the Fayetteville sophomore setter managed to utilize them all Saturday afternoon.
Powell, the Class 7A state tournament MVP, handed out 51 assists as the Lady Bulldogs rallied for a 3-2 victory over 7A-West rival Springdale HarBer at the Bank of the Ozarks Arena.
Four Lady Bulldogs had 10 or more kills as the program earned its second state title with a 25-15, 14-25, 25-27, 25-13, 15-9 victory.
“We have our rotations, but we have a lot of good hitters,” Powell said. “Really, I can just set for one person.”
For three of Saturday’s games, it didn’t matter who Powell set up for the kill. Sophomore Haley Warner led Fayetteville (34-3-1) with 23 kills, but junior Faith Waitsman made 12 kills and senior Hadley Spresser and junior Abbie Kathol added 10 each.
“We started the match with a lot of momentum and ended it with a lot of momentum,” Fayetteville Coach Jessica Phelan said. “It wasn’t easy in between. I thought our girls showed a lot of guts today. They really wanted this.”
After Fayetteville won the first set rather easily, HarBer (28-6-2) got back into the match by scoring nine consecutive points in the second game. Four of those points came on kills by junior outside hitter Klaire Trainor.
In the third set, Har-Ber rallied from a 23-20 deficit before scoring six of the game’s final nine points.
Har-Ber was playing in its third consecutive five-game match.
“No matter what you do, no matter if you’re up by 10 or down by 10, you have to believe you’re going to finish,” Har-Ber Coach Shyrah Schisler said. “I don’t know if we were just tired or that we didn’t have enough confidence in ourselves, but when it came to Game 5 we found an excuse instead of a way to finish.”
Fayetteville never trailed in the final set, scoring six of the game’s first nine points. Warner had three kills early in the set and finished with six for game, including the final point.
Waitsman had three kills during the middle of the fifth set as the Lady Bulldogs turned a 6-4 lead into an 11-6 advantage.
Trainor led the Lady Wildcats with 15 kills, while sophomore Lauren Thompson made 13 kills and senior Emily Thompson eight. Emily Doss led Har-Ber in digs with 25.
Waitsman had nine blocks to go along with her 12 kills. Senior Olivia Doty led the Lady Bulldogs with 24 digs and Kathol added 19. Hadley Spresser served three aces for Fayetteville.
Fayetteville finished the season unbeaten against teams from Arkansas.
“From Day One, our girls felt like winning a state championship was going to be the measure of our season,” Phelan said. “For them to feel that exhilaration and pride, I just can’t say enough about them. They had that fire inside of them.”
CLASS 4A
Shiloh Christian rolls
Reagan Robinson scored 16 kills and 23 digs as the Lady Saints turned a 2116 first-game deficit into a 3-0 rout of defending state champion Mena.
Shiloh Christian (29-9-1) won the match 25-23, 25-10, 25-14.
“I was so nervous I was shaking, but once I got a few balls down I started feeling a lot more comfortable,” said Robinson, a 5-11 senior outside hitter.
In a rematch of last season’s 4A title game, the Lady Saints dominated by giving Mena (30-3) few easy points.
Shiloh Christian scored nine of the final 11 first-game points. The Lady Saints then opened a 5-0 lead to start the second game. Shiloh Christian scored the first four points of the third game.
Junior Hayley Richards added nine kills for the winners. Senior Morgan Stocklein added 18 digs and Celestene Sebag had 16 digs. Senior setter Allie Pitts led the team with 25 assists while Hannah Smithson contributed 12 assists.