Mena makes Shiloh see double

Slow-starting Mena proved unstoppable once the Lady Bearcats found their groove.

Junior outside hitter Daryan Torix collected 13 kills and earned MVP honors as Mena (31-2) earned its first state volleyball championship with a 22-25, 25-11, 25-16, 25-20 victory over Shiloh Christian (29-4) on Saturday at Bank of the Ozarks arena.

Shiloh Christian led 19-10 to start the game and the Lady Saints eventually held on to capture the first set, but Mena controlled the remainder of the match.

“We made a couple of ad- justments and did something we don’t normally do,” Mena coach Brad Lyle said. “We doubled the middle. We should probably do that more often, but we believe in our blockers and our defense. We’ve won a lot of games leaving one blocker in the middle, but Shiloh did a good job of attacking us and we had to change our game.”

Mena came within a point of tying the game in the first set, getting as close as 23-22. The Lady Bearcats then scored six of the first seven points in the second set, seizing the momentum for basically the remainder of the match.

“Their double blocking may have helped them a little bit, but I think our setters were nervous and our offense wasn’t as crisp as it normally is,” Shiloh Christian coach Nathan Bodenstein said.

Shiloh Christian made a push to send the game into a fifth set, but with the fourth set tied at 20, Mena, behind the serving of Mckenzie Spurgin scored the final five points.

Rachael Wood led Mena with 16 kills and Madelyn Brotherton added eight. Spurgin led the Lady Bearcats’ servers with three aces.

Junior outside hitter Reagan Robinson paced Shiloh Christian with 16 kills while senior middle blocker Tori Richards collected 11 kills.