Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Prairie Grove Storms Back To State Volleyball
Prairie Grove Lady Tiger volleyball team is headed back to the 4A tournament after a one-year absence. The Tigers punched their ticket to the big dance by finishing third in the 4A-1 district tournament held last week at Gentry.
First year Tiger coach Lindsey Layes guided her charges to a fiveset victory over the Gravette Lions last Monday, Oct. 20. Prairie Grove then dropped a four-set contest to the Berryville Bobcats the next day. On Wednesday, the Tigers swept the Huntsville Eagles in three-sets to secure the third seed for the 4A-1 conference.
“We definitely had a lot of high points during the tournament, and a few low points as well. But, we finished strong against Huntsville and now we’re looking forward to playing in the state tournament,” said Layes.
Prairie Grove got off to a slow start in their opening match-up against Gravette, losing the first two sets 14-25 and 22-25.
“We started really sluggish and Gravette started out playing really well,” said Layes.
Fueled by 18 team aces the Tigers turned things around by winning the final three sets 25-11, 25-18 and 15-8. Kelsey Webb paced the Tigers offensively with a season high 15 kills and was aided by Bonnie Kragel, who pitched in with 6-aces. Defensively, Landry Laird tallied 22 digs, while Webb and Riley Gerwig pitched in with 5 blocks apiece.
In their contest with the Bobcats, Prairie Grove opened with a 25-23 win, however the Bobcats roared back by winning the next three-sets.
“We played the best we’ve played all year in that first-set, unfortunately it only woke Berryville up,” said Layes.
Webb finished the game with 8 kills and Marie Gregson followed closely with 5 kills. Gerwig notched 4 blocks, while Kragel finished with 2 aces.
Coach Layes lauded the play of Webb, who recorded another 11 kills in Prairie Grove’s three-set sweep (25-21, 25-16, 25-22) of Huntsville in their consolation match.
“Kelsey really played great in the tournament and has stepped it up at the end of the year,” gushed Layes.
Laird complemented Webb with 21 digs, while Kragel contributed with 6 aces.
“We are so excited to be in the state tournament. We know it’s going to be a hostile environment because we face Lonoke, who’s hosting the tournament, but I think we are ready to go,” concluded Layes.