Lakeside takes home trophy from Conway tournament

CONWAY — Lakeside’s 5A-South-leading volleyball team finished 3-2 Saturday in tournament play in Conway, but the Rams returned home with their first trophy of the season.

“We opened pool play sluggish, but it was against a good, scrappy Harrison team that is well-coached and disciplined,” said Lakeside head coach Rhonda Thigpen.

The Rams (15-3, 11-1) opened the tournament with a 25-22, 25-22 loss to the Lady Goblins (159-1, 8-1 4A-Northwest).

Olivia Lawrence made 18 assists as Maddie Trusty finished with nine kills, eight digs, one block and one ace. Meghan Fuller Freeman finished with six kills, two solo blocks and one assist, while Claire Monte hit three kills and Molly Stineman made four digs.

Lakeside next lost, 25-16, 25-11, to Jonesboro

(24-3, 12-0 5A-East), which advanced to the Class

6A state finals in each of the past three seasons. Lawrence made another 20 assists and added six digs. Trusty finished with seven kills and five digs. Monte hit three kills and Fuller Freeman made three assist blocks.

Lakeside began bracket play for the bronze tourney with a 25-18, 25-12 victory against Marion

(9-14, 3-9 5A-East).

Lawrence added another 15 assists, while Trusty hit 12 kills and made four digs. Stineman made another four digs, while Adachi Igbokidi and Katie Ballard made four and three assisted blocks, respectively.

The Rams advanced to meet conference foe Lake Hamilton (17-6, 8-3) in the semifinals. They dropped the first set, but battled back to take the victory, 21-25, 25-14, 15-6.

Lawrence led the way with 21 assists and Trusty finished with 13 kills and eight digs. Stineman added 13 digs, while Monte hit nine kills.

Lakeside won the championship of the bronze division, 25-19, 25-19, against Brookland

(22-7-2, 13-2 4A-Northeast).

Lawrence and Trusty each had their best matches of the tournament in the final. Lawrence had 25 assists and three digs, while Trusty had 18 kills and two digs. Monte added another five kills and Stineman mad 13 digs.

Next for Lakeside is a home non-conference match on Monday against Fountain Lake (17-7-1,

5-1 3A-South).