Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Lady Wolves Knocked Out Of Postseason
FARMINGTON — Lincoln defeated Prairie Grove 3-2 two weeks earlier but the Lady Wolves could not repeat the performance in a must-win situation, losing 3-0, Oct. 21.
“We were ready for it and turned some things around this time. We were on top of our game,” said Prairie Grove coach Hannah McDonald. “More than anything pulling together as a team made a huge difference.”
The 25-18, 25-11, 25-23, loss knocked the sixth- seeded Lady Wolves out of the district tournament while Prairie Grove advanced to a quarterfinal match-up with Farmington.
Hailey West’s block pushed Prairie Grove ahead, 20-15, but Lincoln responded with a Samantha Cheatham kill and Shelby Rowe’s ace. West notched another block and Jaelyn Kilburn’s back-toback aces brought the Lady Tigers to game-point. Jaycie Neeley interrupted the run with a kill for Lincoln but Kelsey Webb’s block ended the game with the Tigers in front, 25-18.
Prairie Grove dominated game two getting three aces from Bonnie Kragel in a 10-0 start. Webb contributed a pair of aces to stretch the Tigers’ lead to 22-9 and Prairie Grove won going away 25-11.
A resurgent Lincoln squad battled to stay in the match and game three was tightly contested all the way. Samantha Cheatham set for Rowe’s kill and added an ace giving the Lady Wolves a 10-7 lead. Taylor Spinks broke a 14-14 tie with a kill from Kragel’s set beginning a 7-5 spree to push the Lady Tigers into the lead. Samantha Cheatham’s kill broke the run and helped Lincoln get within 22-20. Kragel’s ace brought Prairie Grove to game-point but the Lady Wolves did not go quietly. The noise level in the gym raised a few decibels when Neeley produced a kill and ace. The next hit by Prairie Grove went long making the score 24-23 and McDonald called time to disrupt Lincoln’s momentum.
Coming out of the timeout the Tigers recorded a block to earn the win, 25-23, and take the match.
“The second game was hard but what happened in the third game is what I love about this team is they have a lot of heart,” said Lincoln coach Adrian Risley. “It would have been easy to let the third game go like the second but we played hard and Prairie Grove did as well. There can only be one winner.” FARMINGTON — Every year since 2007, Prairie Grove has qualified for the state 4A girls volleyball tournament, but the streak came to a halt Oct. 21.
The Lady Tigers went down, 25-10, 25-14 and 25-16, at the hands of U.S. 62 rival, Farmington, in the district semifinal — one game short of qualifying for state.
The 2012 team reached the state semifinal and the Prairie Grove roster saw wholesale changes after graduation. Change occurred on the bench, too, with former head coach and assistant coach Chris Collins leaving at the end of the 2012-13 school year, replaced by incoming softball coach Dustin Beck.
After defeating Lincoln, their neighbors to the west, 25-18,25-11 and 25-23, in the early Monday game, Prairie Grove faced Farmington, their neighbors to the east in their second game of the night.
“It was definitely a disadvantage with Prairie Grove having to play two games tonight. They played very well and did some things differently that had I not seen them play against Lincoln, I wouldn’t have been prepared for,” said Farmington coach Marshall Ward.
Prairie Grove coach Hannah McDonald agreed saying Farmington was in a rhythm and has grown quite a bit as a team over the season.
“It was a disadvantage for us that he (Ward) was able to watch our first game. That’s the advantage of having the higher seed,” McDonald said.
Brooke Larkin served up four aces and Oakley Sisemore pounded out a pair of kills to get the Lady Cardinals off to a 10-0 lead in game one.
“Our defense played defense, Oakley Sisemore has become our number one hitter and Brooke Larkin is a defensive specialist, who just serves for us and she started us out 10-0. We all stand out together. It makes it hard on the other team cause they don’t know where the set is going,” Ward said.
“It’s a rivalry and they both come out pretty ferocious but to have that ten to nothing run, it’s very hard to shake that off,” McDonald said.
Prairie Grove never could