Farmington Defeats Berryville 3-1

CARDINALS UPSTAGE VISITING BOBCATS

FARMINGTON — First- year Farmington head volleyball coach Marshall Ward met up with his hometown on Sept. 4 and his Lady Cardinals promptly claimed a 3-1 win over Berryville.

Ward, who is from Berryville, is familiar with the 4A-1 Conference.

“Even though it has changed, a lot of it has stayed the same,” Ward said. “Last year’s coach (Jessica McCollough) and my assistant coach (Diandra Bennett) have really helped me a lot.”

After dropping game one, 22-25, the Cardinals posted wins of 25-12, 25-20 and 25-21 to take the match in a fourgame set.

“They did excellent,” Ward said, adding that he was pleased with the team’s overall performance and calling the competition an exceptional first match.

Behind the serving of Maria McPherson, Farmington jumped out to a 5-0 lead in game one but a 13-7 surge by Berryville put the Bobcats in the lead, at 13-12. Shelby Barron’s kill followed by a play made by Rene Scheyder (dig), Lauren Blackburn (set) and Mariel Cooper (kill) that pushed Farmington back in front, at 14-13.

The lead see-sawed until a Cardinal hitting error gave Berryville a 22-21 advantage. From there, the Bobcats closed out the game on a 3-1 run to win game one, 25-22.

Farmington came back strong in game two, jumping out to a 13-5 lead. Scheyder had a pair of blocks and a dink in the run while Oakley Sisemore contributed an ace and Tiffany Rhame added a kill. Berryville got within 19-12 but the final six points of the game belonged to Farmington and the Cardinals won, 25-12, to even the match at one game apiece.

In game three, Farmington found themselves down, 11-12, when members of the senior high football team, who were fresh out of practice, began to make their presence known with vocal exhortation from the stands. The Farmington girls responded to the cheers of the boys and battled a very game opponent as each point was fought over.

With McPherson serving, Farmington scored the final five points to break away from a 20-20 tie. McPherson got under a well-hit Bobcat shot to record a dig and keep the ball alive on game-point, which led to the Bobcats hitting the ball out of bounds and a 25- 20 game- three victory for Farmington.

With the match on the line, game four became a slugfest. The trio of Rhame (dig), Lauren Blackburn and Sisemore (kill) combined to tie up the contest, at 14-all. Berryville’s Hannah Needham slammed back an errant shot to put the Bobcats in front, 18-17, but Scheyder had back-to-back kills and a block after Rhame hustled to make a save to bring Farmington to game point, at 24-21.

Lindsey Blackburn then served up an ace to end the action. Farmington won game four, 25-21, to claim the 3-1 match win.

After taking on West Fork at home on Thursday and U.S. 62 rival, Prairie Grove, at home last night, the Cardinals will face Gravette tomorrow with the junior high match starting at 4:30 p.m. at the Randall G. Lynch Middle School gym.