BENTON — The Bryant Lady Hornets freshman team battled through six matches at a volleyball tournament at Benton High School and, according to head coach Lawrence Jefferson, they were better for it.
“We improved as the tournament progressed,” he said. “The girls worked hard all day.”
And that’s the whole point for an early-season tournament, after all. The team finished third with a 25-18, 25-21 win over North Little Rock in the consolation match. That avenged an 18-25, 14-25 loss to the Lady Charging Wildcats to start the day.
In between, Bryant absorbed three losses. The first North Little Rock match was in pool play. It was followed by a 10-25, 18-25 loss to Benton then a 19-25, 15-25 loss to Lakeside. In bracket play, a rematch against Lakeside went three sets before the Lady Rams escaped with a win, 25-11, 19-25, 15-10.
In the victory over North Little Rock to wrap up the day, Grace Sams led the team with five kills. Truli Bates had three. Ivory Russ, Grace Camferdam and Casey Welch came up with two each. Erin Thompson, Kalina Weaver, Brooke Abney and Camille Rawls finished with a kill apiece.
Weaver had 10 assists and Lexi Brown set for five. Thompson contributed three aces at the service line. Sams had two with Brown and Weaver scoring one each. Brown got in nine of her 10 serves. Weaver was good on all six of her serves and Kiarra Beard was 5 for 5.
In the bracket match with Lakeside, Sams had six kills, Camferdam four. Russ and Bates finished with three each, Welch two. Camille Rawls and Beard contributed one apiece. Bates had three solo blocks and Welch two. Russ had a block as well.
Weaver finished with seven assists, Brown four and Sams one. In service, Brown was good on 12 of her 13 serves with three aces. Weaver got in all nine of her serves and picked up an ace. Sams was 5 of 6 with an ace.
The Bryant-Lakeside match in pool play, the Lady Hornets were held to four kills and two aces, though they were 30 of 33 at the service line.
Bates had two of the kills and the lone Bryant block. Sams, Camferdam and Cali Rogers each had a kill. The aces were provided by Beard and Hannah Work.
Against Benton, Sams had three kills, went 5 for 5 at the line and scored an ace. Rawls added two kills with Bates and Russ finishing with a kill apiece. Russ had the lone block.
Beard led with two aces and Thompson added one. Work was good on all four of her serves.
In the opening match with North Little Rock, Sams accounted for three of Bryant’s eight kills. Brown, Welch, Bates, Camferdam and Russ each had one. Rogers contributed the team’s lone block.
Weaver assisted three times. Brown had two assists and Joely Calhoun one.
At the service line, Weaver had two aces, Cora Edwards and Thompson one each. Thompson and Sams were good on each of their four serves, respectively.
The Lady Hornets get right back into action on Monday, Aug. 29, when they play their first home match. It’ll be another meeting with North Little Rock.
