Farmington Volleyball Team Qualifies For State

FARMINGTON — The Lady Cardinal volleyball squad earned a berth in the state 4A tournament with sweeps of Prairie Grove ( 25- 10, 25-14, 25-16) and Gravette (25-23, 25-16, 25-23) in district competition last week.

On Oct. 22, Farmington took on second seed Berryville in the district semifinals and lost, 25-21, 25-20 and 25-23, sending the Lady Cardinals into Thursday’s consolation game against Gravette, a 25-20,259,25-21, loser to Pea Ridge in the other semifinal.

Farmington and Gravette split during the regular season with each winning at home, Gravette 3-2 and Farmington 3-1 but this time the Lady Cardinals asserted themselves at the end of each game.

In game one, Oakley Sisemore’s kill broke a 22-22 tie and Farmington went on to victory on Gravette’s hitting and service errors. Farmington finished game two on an 11-2 run stretching out the margin to 25-16 after breaking away from a 14-14 tie. A 5-1 Gravette run tied the third game at 21-all before a pair of Lion miscues awarded consecutive points to Farmington.

In game one against Berryville, Lindsey Blackburn’s kill narrowed the Berryville lead to 20-19 but Ally Teague’s kill brought the Bobcats to game-point and the game ended in Berryville’s favor, at 25-21.

In game two Farmington drew even, at 18- all, on Lauren Blackburn’s kill before a service error and hitting error gave Berryville a 22-19 cushion. Teague was blocked but recovered to execute a kill, a long serve pushed the Bobcats to gamepoint, winning, 25-20, when Farmington’s third hit went out. In game three, Farmington closed to within, 21-19, on Lauren Blackburn’s ace and 22-20 on Irvin’s kill but after tying the game when a Bobcat hit went long, the Lady Cardinals were upended on a net serve and Teague’s kill. Berryville won 25-23 to complete the sweep.