Bryant’s road warriors edge North Little Rock in thriller
EDITOR’S NOTE: Because the look back at each day in Bryant athletic history has been so favorably received during the time when there was no sports during the COVID-19 shutdown, BryantDaily.com will continueposting past stories of Bryant athletics either posted on BryantDaily.com (from 2009 to the present) or published in the Bryant Times (from 1998 to 2008).
By Martin Couch
On a night where head coach Beth Solomon was out, assistant coach Julie Long had the privilege of watching the Bryant Lady Hornets surge into a three-way tie for third in the 7A/6A-Central Conference.
The Lady Hornets battled back from behind by a point or two for most of the fifth and deciding game against the North Little Rock Charging Lady Wildcats, to win at North Little Rock on Thursday night. Bryant won 16-25, 25-15, 25-14, 21-25 and finally, 16-14, in the extra set.[more]
It improved Bryant to 5-5 overall, 4-3 in conference play, tied with Russellville and Van Buren for third behind Conway (7-0) and Mount St. Mary (6-1).
Of the Lady Hornets’ five wins, four have come on the road. They’ll try to add a home win on Tuesday, Sept. 28, when Little Rock Central visits.
“This team beat North Little Rock last year one time, but they came to our place and beat us bad, so it was going to be a rough game,” Long said. “That’s a huge match, because it puts us in third instead of fifth or sixth going into the second round of the conference.”
The Lady Hornets got their first point on a substitution error by North Little Rock when the lineups were checked for the first game. A block by Hannah Rice made it 2-0 and later on a kill from McKenzie Rice and one from Courtney Davidson made it a 7-6 Lady Hornets lead.
North Little Rock stormed back and outscored Bryant 10-2 to open up a 14-9 advantage. Kills from Brianna White and Hannah Rice got the Lady Hornets as close as 16-12, but North Little Rock went on to take a 25-16 win in game one despite two kills by Maggie Hart.
The second game started with North Little Rock ahead, but four straight errors coupled with a kill by McKenzie Rice put the Lady Hornets in charge 5-1.
With the momentum swinging to their side, White blocked a shot for a point, Davidson got a kill and Hannah Rice blocked a shot for a point to make it 11-6.
Bryant stayed in control with Hart picking up a point with a shot over the defense and she came back for a strong kill.
After North Little Rock was whistled in the net, White killed the ball and libero Lauren Reed got a long hit to fall making it an 18-10 Lady Hornet lead.
White got another kill and a blocked shot then Hart and Hannah Rice both got kills. A kill from Amber Cope set up the final point that was scored on a block by McKenzie Rice for the win.
The Lady Hornets had two kills from White early on, then Davidson got back-to-back kills for a 7-5 lead. This time, North Little Rock stayed close and tied the match at 10-10 and 11-11, but Sydney Manley got a point on a long hit inbounds, Davidson and Hart both had kills, then a block by McKenzie Rice led to a point from Cope for a 12-11 lead.
White’s block, an ace serve from Hart and another block from White put Bryant out front by five points. White added two more blocks for a 21-12 lead, but North Little Rock came back to make it interesting 23-18. A dink from Hart on game point gave the Lady Hornets a 2-1 advantage in match play.
Bryant fell behind 5-1 before White got the team going with a kill shot in the fourth game. Taylor West got a point and kills from Hart and McKenzie Rice tied the game at 10-10. North Little Rock eased ahead by two, but suffered two errors and the game was tied again. Actually the game was tied three more times 13-13, 20-20 and 21-21.
A kill from McKenzie Rice, then blocks from Hannah Rice and Hart set up a kill shot from Cope to tie the game at 20-20. Needing to only win one more game, Bryant took a 21-20 lead on a player in the net. North Little Rock rebounded with a kill to tie the game and the Lady Hornets hit the net to relinquish the lead. An ace and two kills ended the fourth game in a Lady Charging Wildcats victory to tie the match at 2-2.
“I’ve been trying to motivate the girls to get them up for this round of conference and to finish it with an over .500 record,” Long said. “Everybody kind of played great. Our blocks were on and that was huge for us in the second and third games. When we did have a letdown, somebody stepped up.”
In sudden-death to 15, Bryant fell behind, but tied the game 2-2 on a kill from McKenzie Rice. A kill from White made it 3-3 and, later, a block from Hart and a kill by Hannah Rice tied the last game at 6-6. A block from Hannah Rice and kills from Hart and White again, coupled with a netter from North Little Rock knotted the score at 10-10. It was 11-11 and 12-12 on errors, but Bryant fell behind by two points on a net serve and an out.
In fact, North Little Rock had two chances to end the game, but Hart stepped up for a block for a point then a kill from McKenzie Rice tied the game for the last time 14-14.
Bryant took advantage of North Little Rock hitting the ball into the net and won the game when the Lady Charging Wildcats misplayed a hit ball from Hart.
“For the most part, everyone of the girls did their job, especially in that last game,” Long said. “That was awesome. They came from behind and that’s hard to do after coming off a loss in the fourth game.”
McKenzie Rice finished with 10 kills on 29 good hits. White contributed six blocks and Hart five. Hart also led by serving for 20 points including a pair of aces. Hannah Rice had 32 assists. Reed was good on 29 serve-receives and came up with 20 digs.
In a JV match, Bryant fell 13-25, 15-23. Alex Boone led with 12 hits and four kills. West came through with 14 digs and 39 assists. Serving, Kaylon Wilson, West and Alyssa Anderson led with five points each. Britten Hays had eight good serves and Brooke Howell led with nine good passes.
