Lady Hornets bounce back with sweep of Cabot
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).
Photos by Valerie Nagle
Home sweet home.
The Bryant Lady Hornets volleyball team returned to the Hornets Nest on Thursday night and[more] everything went a little bit better.
“Tonight’s win was definitely the pick-me-up that the girls needed after Tuesday,” acknowledged Lady Hornets coach Beth Solomon. “This puts us back on the positive side as far as our record in conference at 2-1. We’ll keep building on this through next week.”
Now 3-2 overall, the Lady Hornets continue league action on Tuesday, Sept. 13, at Russellville then host perennial power Conway on Thursday.
In junior varsity action, Bryant prevailed over Cabot as well, 25-19, 25-23.
As so often is the case when the Lady Hornets are at their best, several players contributed kills, this time seven of them led by Brianna White’s 10. McKenzie Rice and Alyssa Anderson added seven each. But it was the improved blocking that had Solomon pleased.
“The big difference was our middle blockers,” she stated. “Brianna White and Alyssa Anderson really stepped up on blocking for us.”
White had six solo blocks and Anderson three and each assisted on another block.
“We’ve been working hard on putting the great passing with with the great hitting and blocking and tonight it worked,” Solomon said. “We still are working on being more consistent as we had a few ‘down times’ in game two. But I’m proud of the way the girls played tonight.”
Bryant was good on 89 percent of its passes and its serves. Anderson and Taylor West each had 13 good serves, Hannah Rice nine. Anderson, Hannah Rice and McKenzie Rice each had two aces while serving. Lauren Reed had 14 good passes without an error.
In addition, Hannah Rice came up with 12 digs and 25 assists.
Bryant’s JV team also had seven different players contribute kills led by Aubree Allen’s five. Erica Smith had four and Courtney Davidson three. Smith also had two solo blocks and Allen one while combining with Alex Boone on another. Carley Choate set for 17 assists and had five good passes without an error.
Kaylon Wilson had seven digs while Davidson contributed five and Kaley Coppock four.
The top servers were Davidson and Allen with 12 and 11 good serves, respectively. Each had four aces as well. Wilson had nine good serves with an ace.