Farmington wins round two in volleyball rivalry

FARMINGTON — Farmington’s been steadily plugging away, chasing an opportunity to move up in the 4A-1 volleyball standings after suffering a 5-set loss to Prairie Grove on Aug. 29.

That dogged determination and persistence paid off in a big way with Farmington (12-5, 6-3 4A-1) getting a 3-set sweep (25-21, 25-23, 25-22) Thursday over the Lady Tigers (11-4-1, 6-3 4A-1) in roundtwo of the volleyball version of the ‘Battle of Highway 62’ rivalry at Cardinal Arena.

Farmington coach Kylie Moad acknowledged the Lady Cardinals did not want to go 0-2 in the season series.

“No, so now we’re split, but if we go head-to-head in points we’ll win. It’s good that we beat them in three sets,” Moad said.

Junior Kaycee McCumber led the Lady Cardinals with 10 kills while Samantha Brye was right behind her with 9 kills.

“Kaycee’s serve is amazing. It’s a great serve,” Moad said. “She was very consistent with it tonight and that’s what we need her to do. We need her to not be one or two and out. We need her to go on a run with that big serve so that was huge tonight for us.”

Moad tweaked her game plan and the Lady Cardinals effectively contained Prairie Grove and prevented the Lady Tigers from going on extended runs, which led to the sweep, a feat no other 4A-1 team accomplished thus far this season.

“We’re always going to get up for the Prairie Grove battle of Highway 62. It’s the kid’s desire, I mean, it’s their heart and want to win, and that’s what it took and they got it done tonight. I could not be more proud of them,” Moad said.

The Lady Tigers had some chances in both the second and third sets but couldn’t fashion a run when they needed it.

“I was more impressed with Farmington’s defense tonight, to be honest,” said Prairie Grove coach Lindsey Biocic. “They had some girls really diving and hitting that floor and they did not want to give up any single point. They did a great job.”

Prairie Grove junior setter Emma Kate Vertz effectively sprinkled a few kills into the action. She kept Prairie Grove alive in the waning moments of both the second and third sets, by interrupting Farmington runs, while playing at less than 100 percent

Vertz finished with 28 assists to go with 12 digs and as Biocic pointed out, “She tied for the lead in kills with 8 and she wasn’t even an offensive player. We ran a 5-1, so for her, being one of our top kills contributors, along with Ashlyn Tag, shows what kind of a player she is. She’s just an allaround great volleyball player.”

Vertz accounted for Prairie Grove’s only ace serve of the match.

Tag’s consistently demonstrated capacity to take a good set and turn that into a kill, almost as if on

cue when she receives a pass, “Tag, you’re it.”

“We’ve kind of made some jokes about that and what not, but it hasn’t really stuck. She did a good job, though. We saw an open hole in Farmington’s block and I thought she did a really good job of trying to attack that tonight. She was great. She was coachable in that area. Her and Kamryn Coughran. We just couldn’t quite the set to them every single time. Our serve and receive back row struggled tonight,” Biocic said.

McCumber cashed in on an opportunity to close out the match. Farmington fed her the ball and the 6-feet-1 junior powered the match-point home with a resounding kill to win game three, 25-22.

In the previous match, a 5-set loss on Aug. 29, the Lady Cardinals didn’t finish off Prairie Grove when they had the chance and it came back to cost them. McCumber celebrated on the court and in a post-match interview.

“It was awesome. I honestly loved the feeling. It was amazing. My team [fed me]. That spot was open. We talked about it and we decided to do it and killed it,” McCumber said.

Last weekend, Prairie Grove played in the Fort Smith Invitational as the smallest school in a bracket featuring Class 6A schools, Forth Smith Northside, Fort Smith Southside, Mount St. Mary and Bentonville West.

“We’re excited to do that. I think it’s a good opportunity to improve to get us ready for the rest of the season. We go to Clarksville on Tuesday and then we host Shiloh at home on Thursday and that will be a big match,” Biocic said.