Lady Tigers Hold Off Blackhawks in Five Games

PRAIRIE GROVE — The Prairie Grove Lady Tiger volleyball team is starting to make a habit of snatching victory from the clutches of defeat.

On Sept. 11, the Tigers rallied from two games down to take a five game thriller from Farmington, a week later on Sept. 18 the Tigers and Pea Ridge Blackhawks were tied two games apiece with the Blackhawks on the precipice of victory, holding a 14-13 game point advantage in the fifth and deciding game.

A Kaleigh Witherspoon spike staved off the Blackhawks and allowed Prairie Grove to go on to the 16-14 win and improve their conference record to 5-1.

“We definitely like to keep things exciting,” said Tiger coach Hannah McDonald.

The Tigers were powered by the offensive trio of Kaleigh Witherspoon, Caleigh Moyer and Marie Gregson in the first game win against the Blackhawks with all three players recording four kills apiece. Back-to-back kills from Gregson late in the game broke a 20-20 tie and gave Prairie Grove a 22-20 lead. A Witherspoon spike from mid-court brought the Tigers to gamepoint, at 24-22, and a Moyer kill closed out the game, 2522, in Prairie Grove’s favor.

In games two and three, Pea Ridge took a more aggressive stance at the net, turning away numerous Tiger shots and helping them claim victory in those two contests, while also giving them a 2 games to 1 advantage.

In the two games that the Blackhawks won, the Prairie Grove offense went from smashing spikes at the defender’s feet to just trying to tip the ball into an empty spot on the floor, with little success. In game four the Tigers went back to enforcing their will at the nylon, which improved their performance by leaps and bounds. Moyer particularly become more active, blocking 3 Blackhawks spikes while recording 4 kills herself. A Moyer kill late in the game made the score 24-21 and was followed by a Blackhawks error which gave the game to the Tigers, 25-21, and knotted up the match at two games apiece.

Witherspoon was on fire in the race to 15 final contest, dialing up four spikes. However, the Blackhawks were still able to gain momentum and push the Tigers to the brink of defeat, serving with match-point, at 14-13.

With the game on the line, Witherspoon made her biggest shot of the game when she dialed up a dangerous cross-court spike that tied the score at 14-14.

“Every time I tried to tip the ball over it didn’t work,” Witherspoon said. “So, I felt the best chance for us to get back into it was to just go for it. Sometimes you just have to take a risk.”

The Tigers won the next 2 points, giving them the 1614 game 5 win and allowing them to claim the match at 3 games to 2.