Lady Hornets capture conference opener at Lake Hamilton
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PEARCY — Providing the first official competition in the school’s return to the South Conference,[more] the Bryant Lady Hornets were triumphant, sweeping the Lake Hamilton Lady Wolves, 25-7, 25-17, 25-21 on Thursday night.
Bryant’s junior varsity team wound up in the win column as well in a barn-burner, 28-26, 20-25, 15-13.
Now 5-3 overall, the Lady Hornets’ second league outing will be next Tuesday at Little Rock J.A. Fair.
Against Lake Hamilton, McKenzie Rice had 15 kills, Alyssa Anderson 11 and Brooke Howell 10, the first time this season that three players reached double digits as the Lady Hornets piled up 43 as a team. Setter Hannah Rice assisted on 37.
“We knew Lake Hamilton would be a pretty good match up and the girls were ready to play following our letdown in Conway Tuesday night,” stated Lady Hornets head coach Beth Solomon. “After the 25-7 win in game one, our big focus was ‘Don’t be satisfied; build on what you’ve done.’
“The girls did prove to be a little too satisfied, letting Lake Hamilton score 17 points the second game and 21 in the third,” she noted. “Overall, the girls played very well.
“Our serves were back on tonight, thankfully,” the coach noted. “They played together on the court and were covering and backing each other up.”
In service, the Lady Hornets were good on 89 percent of their attempts and they compiled 13 aces, led by Courtney Davidson with four. Howell and McKenzie Rice had three each. Anderson was good on all seven of her serves and Howell got in 17 of her 18. Howell also had a team-high 13 digs.
“Overall, I think that Kaylon Wilson really stood out to me tonight,” Solomon said. “She scrapped up some pretty good balls and proved she’s becoming more and more confidant each game. Kaylon plays right side for us and is responsible for taking the second ball when Hannah has to take the first one. Rochelle Aguilar also had a great night tonight.”
Aguilar, the team’s libero, was 10 for 10 on her passes, 15 of 17 on serve-receive with seven digs.
“In JV, we played hard and fought back after being down to get a 28-26 victory in game one,” Solomon said. “We dropped game two then pulled out game three, 15-13.
“Nikki Clay had a great night,” she added. “Mercedes Dillard also did a great job setting for us in JV. Erica Smith really shut down their front row tonight with her big blocks.”
Smith had six solo blocks. Rylee Phillips contributed three kills and 10 digs. Dillard finished with seven assists with no serve-receive or passing errors.
She, Smith, Aubree Allen and Madison Greeno each had an ace in service.
