Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Rematches abound in volleyball finals
HOT SPRINGS — Plenty of familiar foes dot the lineup or the state high school volleyball finals today at Bank OZK Arena.
Fayetteville will face Fort Smith Southside for the fourth time this season in the Class 6A final at 2 p. m. Greenwood hasn’t seen Jonesboro this season, but the Bulldogs and Hurricane have crossed paths in the state tournament the last five consecutive years and will meet again for the 5A championship.
Coaches all talked about being grateful just to make it to the state tournament this week considering the pandemic. Fayetteville advanced despite the loss of senior outside hitter Perry Flannigan to a season-ending injury a few weeks ago, but has finished strong.
Fayetteville coach Jessica Phelan is proud of her team navigating all those issues and outlasting Springdale Har-Ber in five tough sets in the semifinals to make their ninth state finals appearance in school history.
“This has been such a strange year in many ways in terms of all the things the kids have done or not been able to do,” Phelan said. “Just to be able to continue to play volleyball, we’re super proud of our kids to take one more special trip together to Hot Springs.”
Southside (16-3) will be making its third straight state finals appearance, but the Mavericks have come up short the last two. Coach Natalie Throneberry said the focus has been one match at a time.
“You eat an elephant one bite at a time,” said Throneberry, who was away from her team last week during the 6A-West Conference tournament because of covid-19 quarantine. “That’s what we focus on the next game being the most important one and this is it. This is the last chance they have to play together. So we’re gonna go into Saturday thankful to have another day to play.”
Jonesboro ( 19- 1) is trying for its third straight state title. Greenwood kept them from three straight already, defeating the Hurricane in the finals in 2017.
The Bulldogs are 20-1 and riding a 20- match winning streak into today’s 11:30 a.m. title match. They haven’t lost since falling in four sets at Fayetteville on August 24 in the season opener. Jonesboro had a 55-match winning streak snapped four weeks ago, falling four sets to 4A finalist Valley View, but has won six in a row since then.
Greenwood coach Jennifer Golden thought her team had what it takes to challenge for a state title this season.
“Back in the summer, you know you thought they had the skills, the players and the leadership,” Golden said. “If you can just keep everything gelled together, you know they’re gonna do big things.
“With covid and everything, it’s been kinda hard. But we’ve maneuvered, we’ve pivoted and we’ve gotten to where we’re supposed to be.”
It’s the same story in Class 3A as Paris and Hackett have split two meetings this year. The Hornets (21-1) are the defending 2A state champions, but bumped up to 3A this season and haven’t missed a beat.
The Eagles (16-4) had a string of seven consecutive state finals appearances snapped last year, but they are back with a young team, which includes three freshmen who moved up at the end of the junior high season. Paris has just one senior that sees significant playing time.
Mansfield (20-0) dropped down a classification to 2A and has rolled thus far this season. The Tigers take on 2A-West Conference foe Lavaca in today’s final. Mansfield has won four state titles, including three in a row from 2012-14. But this is the Tigers’ first trip back to the finals since 2014.