CONWAY — The Bryant Lady Hornets freshman volleyball team were tied 3-3 with the Conway Blue Lady Wampus Kittens early in[more] their volleyball match on Monday, Aug. 29. A line-up problem from the start of the game was discovered at that point and the officials determined that the Lady Hornets had to give up their three points.
As it turned out, they wound up three points short in that game, 22-25, which proved to be notable because Bryant won the next game, 25-15 and the match went to a third game which Conway Blue prevailed, 25-15, to win the match.
With the loss, Bryant is 1-1 going into a match on Thursday at Lake Hamilton.
Lady Hornets head coach Monica Parish acknowledged the mistake but added, “I didn’t think we should have lost all three of our points since the floor official didn’t catch it. Losing by three really hurt.”
There was a long delay during the discussion about the incident and when play resumed, Conway Blue pushed its 3-0 lead to 8-1 interrupted only by Rylee Phillps’ kill off an assist from Nicki Clay.
It was 1-9 when Mercedes Dillard took over serving and placed an ace the got the Lady Hornets going again. Another kill by Phillips set by Clay helped trim the margin further. Later, a kill by Taylor Lindberg helped get the Lady Hornets within 8-14.
A kill by Haley Dellis off a set from Abby Staton added to Bryant’s score and broke the Kittens’ serve. Dellis served up the next two points with Lindberg adding a kill.
Eventually, Bryant cut the margin to 17-18 before Blue went on a 4-0 run to regain the momentum. The Lady Hornets broke serve and, again, Dillard served up an ace and they closed to within 22-23 before Blue put the game away.
In the second game, Bryant led most of the way. The early 3-3 tie held this time and with Clay and Phillips serving. The score was 8-6 when Dellis served for a 5-0 run that was capped by Clay’s kill off a set from Phillips.
It was 14-9 when Staton’s turn to serve came up. She added two points and the lead eventually grew to 19-11. Clay accounted for points 20 and 21 with a pair of service aces. Kills by Dellis closed it out off.
“We were consistent with our serve and started setting our outside hitters,” Parish noted.
In the third game, Conway Blue jumped out 3-0 before a kill by Phillips off a set by Clay got Bryant on the board. The two traded roles for another kill as the Lady Hornets pulled within 5-7 but another three-point roll by Conway kept Bryant playing from behind.
Lindberg set for a Clay kick to get it to 7-12 but then the Lady Kittens took control of the game with a 7-0 run.
With Jayla Anderson serving, the Lady Hornets pushed back with points 12 through 15, highlighted by a kill by Dellis off a feed from Clay. But that’s as close as Bryant would get.
“Except for Jayla’s service, we could not get on a roll,” Parish noted. “Conway Blue kept breaking up our serve and we never really got any momentum throughout that third game.”
