Farmington Gets Past Lady Panthers

SILOAM SPRINGS — Farmington absorbed an early punch from Siloam Springs and then delivered a few of its own on a Tuesday night.

The Lady Cardinals shook off a first set loss and stormed back to win three straight to take a 3-1 (21-25, 25-17, 25-14, 25-21) victory in the Lady Panthers’ home opener Aug. 27 inside Panther Activity Center.

Farmington got a strong performance from several of its players, including senior outside hitter Kally Stout, senior defensive specialist Madison Lovell, junior middle Addison Fenton and sophomore hitter Morgan Brye.

Fenton, Stout and Bryce combined for 44 kills, and Lovell had 21 defensive digs and two aces.

“We have a lot of senior leadership. We have a lot of varsity experience,” said Farmington coach Mike Howard. “When everything is under control and we play within ourselves, we can play the net and the back row very well. They go hand-in-hand for us. When the front row starts playing better, then the back row starts playing better and vice versa.”

Siloam Springs took an early 5-2 lead in the first set but Farmington battled back and the teams traded points until reaching a 21-21 tie late in the set. Siloam Springs scored the final four points, highlighted by kills from Abby Kelly and Dorothy Swearingen, to get the win.

The second set was tight until the latter half when Fenton went on a tear with three kills in a six-point span to take a 21-16 lead.

Stout’s kill set up set point and the Lady Cardinals took the 25-17 win with a Lady Panthers error.

“We settled down,” Howard said. “We started playing the game we know we could play. We made less errors and put the pressure on them and the score reflected that.”

Farmington blasted out to an 8-3 lead in the third set and cruised to the 25-14 win as Siloam Springs dug deep into its bench looking for a spark.

The Lady Panthers did come out re-energized in the fourth set and took an early 10-2 lead after kills from Swearingen, Jael Harried, Kelly and an ace from Abby Hornbuckle.

Farmington clawed back though. Fenton had two straight kills to give the Lady Cardinals a 21-17 lead.

An ace from Larkin Lynch set up match point and a kill from Bryce gave the Lady Cardinals the win.

Fenton led Farmington with 15 kills and five blocks, while Stout also had 15 kills and Bryce 14 kills.

“They attacked our blockers really well,” said Siloam Springs coach Joellen Wright. “We weren’t fundamentally sound. We struggled with some simple blocking fundamentals and they used it to their advantage. Kudos to them. No doubt to them they were the better team. They exposed a lot of our weaknesses that we hadn’t seen yet.”

Kelly led the Lady Panthers with 10 kills to go with 19 digs and four aces. Abby Herring had four kills, while Harried, Rachel Conrad and Makenna Thomas each had three kills.

Myah Moren had 19 digs, while Blake Vincent had 18 digs and three aces. Thomas had 11 digs, three aces and 24 assists with Hornbuckle contributing 10 digs and four aces. Emma Norberg had 11 assists.