Paris falls under own errors

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Paris came out more aggressively than Mansfield but that eventually hurt the Lady Eagles.

Paris had a pair of hitters eclipse 20 kills but also committed 41 errors in the Class 3A volleyball championship match Saturday. No. 2 seed Masnfield, playing 3A-West top seed Paris for the sixth time this year, committed only 17 errors and won 17-25, 25-16, 25-23, 25-23 Saturday at Bank of the Ozarks Arena.

“The errors came back to bite us tonight, and we’ve had that problem all year,” Paris coach Wesley Davis said. “We’ve talked to them about that as the year has gone along, and I just hate that they showed up today.”

After Paris (30-10) won the regular-season wars, Mansfield (25-10) took the most important match for its third consecutive state title and fourth overall. The Lady Tigers also topped the Lady Eagles in last year’s state final.

“During the summer, we sat down and talked about it,” Mansfield coach April Howell said. “I told them, ‘If you believe in yourself and believe in your teammates, we’ll not only go to the finals but we’ll win.’ I said everybody might not think it will happen because we only have three returning starters, but I said, ‘I know you can do it. And if you know you can do it, then we can do it.’”

Paris controlled the first set through 15 combined kills by Daisy Mitchell and Lycia Peevy and jumped ahead 9-4 in the second set before Howell called timeout. Mansfield then won 21 of the set’s final 28 points.

The Lady Tigers led most of the third set after scoring the first five points, but after Paris tied it at 15, the Lady Eagles went up 20-17. Mansfield regained the lead on four straight Paris hitting errors, getting triple set point on another hitting error before Kylie Ward got a kill on the third set point. Three of Ward’s four kills clinched sets. The teams’ familiarities showed in the fourth with no more than four points separating the teams. Sierra Grady helped Mansfield through the final set with eight kills.

Grady, with a team-high 18 kills, was named the match’s most valuable player.

“She had probably the best game of the year for her,” Howell said. “I moved her from middle to outside. She hasn’t played outside since the ninth grade. It was new to her, but she just got better and better as the season went on.”

Mansfield survived 24 kills from Peevy and 23 kills from Mitchell.

The Sentinel-Record/Mara Kuhn UP IN ARM: Paris’ Sarah Sparks reaches for a return during the Class 3A volleyball state final against Mansfield Saturday at Bank of the Ozarks Arena. After the Lady Eagles won the first game, Mansfield rallied for a 3-1 win.

The Sentinel-Record/Lorien E. Dahl Centerpoint’s Colton Bright, right, and Daniel Henthorn block the path of Jessieville’s Ruben de Haas in the first half of the Knights’ 51-21 win Friday night at Phillips Field. Centerpoint held the Lions to seven second-half points, coming on Wesley...