Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Volleyball sweep
Sluggish starts turn into victories for Bentonville over Rogers Heritage.
BENTONVILLE — The first two starts were a little sluggish for Bentonville High’s volleyball team Tuesday night, but the finishes had coach Michelle Smith pleased.
The Lady Tigers needed a little time to pull away from Rogers Heritage in the first two sets, then went on to complete a 3-0 sweep of the Lady War Eagles during 7A-West Conference action in Tiger Arena.
“I was happy,” Smith said following the 25-14, 25-14, 25-12 victory. “They bounced back from Thursday night and took care of business on their side.
“We had a different lineup in every game and a different libero in every game. We had changes and mixed things up, and the girls responded really well.”
Bentonville (12-3, 6-0) took control of the first set after Savanna Riney’s kill broke a 6-6 tie, then capped it with seven straight points. The Lady Tigers then received a Heritage service error to break a 9-9 deadlock, and that sparked a 10-1 run, with Emma Palasak’s kill giving Bentonville a 19-9 cushion.
The third set was different because the Lady Tigers picked up the pace, particularly with their serves. Bentonville jumped out to a 7-1 lead on a Grayce Joyce kill, then used a string of seven straight points to help put Heritage (3-10-1, 0-6) away.
“Bentonville is a strong team,” Heritage coach Lindsay Biocic said. “Any time anyone is going up against them, it’s going to be … about like that. We have a lot of work to do with our confidence”
Palasak led Bentonville with 12 kills, while Tymber Riley and Tori Lowry — two players that shared libero duties — had 14 and 11 digs, respectively, and Baylee Barganier had 29 assists.
Sydney Frus had six kills for Heritage, while Jaclyn Neff added 11 assists.
SPRINGDALE HAR-BER 3, VAN BUREN 0
Springdale Har-Ber made quick work of Van Buren Tuesday night, sweeping the Lady Pointers in roughly 55 minutes in Wildcat Arena.
Lauren Thompson led the Lady Wildcats with 13 kills and eight digs while Jayci Carpenter added 10 kills. Har-Ber’s Natalie Williams finished with 22 assists, five digs and three aces as well. Alex Dupree led Van Buren with six kills and an ace.
Har-Ber improves to 11-4 overall and 4-2 in 7A-West play. Van Buren drops to 8-7-1 and 2-4 in league matches.
BENTONVILLE WEST 3, ROGERS HIGH 0
Sophomore Kortney Puckett hammered a match-high 14 kills to lead the Lady Wolverines to a 25-23, 25-14, 26-24 win over Rogers High at King Arena.
Junior setter Winnie Spurlock dished out 30 assists and added four aces for West, which improved to 6-9 overall and 3-3 in 7A-West Conference play. Kerryann Ptacket and Emerson Traweek chipped in seven kills each.
Hannah Martin led Rogers (7-12, 2-4) with four kills, four aces and two blocks. Kassidy Wall added four kills and eight digs.
SILOAM SPRINGS 3, HUNTSVILLE 0
The Lady Panthers’ won their second straight match with a 25-9, 25-13, 25-13 nonconference sweep of the Lady Eagles.
Shaylon Sharp led the Lady Panthers (7-10) with six kills, four aces and seven digs, while Allie Bowman had five kills, four aces and four digs.
Reigan Brown had five kills and one ace, while Ellie Lampton had four kills, two aces and 11 digs and Chloe Price four kills, three aces, five digs and 24 assists. Dezeray Sulffridge had 19 digs to lead Huntsville (4-6-1), while Amber Presley and Holly Anderson each had three kills.
Siloam Springs returns to action at Farmington on Thursday.
SHILOH CHRISTIAN 3, WEST FORK 0
Lexi Richards had 13 kills and 6 digs to lead the Lady Saints to a 25-8, 25-14, 25-11 sweep of West Fork. The win was Shiloh Christian’s 55th consecutive 4A-1 Conference match win.
Taylor Larson had 6 aces and 9 digs for the Lady Saints (8-7, 7-0 4A-1). Jentry Lantzsch and Hattie McDonald combined for 23 assists.
Shiloh Christian hosts Decatur on Thursday to start the second round of conference play.