Against league-leading Fort Smith Southside, the Bryant Lady Hornets put up a fight and made the Lady Mavericks work a little harder for their victory than was the case when the two teams met at Southside on Sept. 13.
Southside nonetheless prevailed 25-18, 25-22, 25-10.
“We looked really good tonight during sets 1 and 2,” said Bryant head coach Beth Solomon. “I was super proud of the way the girls were playing.
“At one point in game 1, we were down 6 points and we pushed back and got the game tied back up,” she recounted. “In set 2, we put up another great fight, but couldn’t get the score to fall in our favor. Unfortunately, we couldn’t pull out set 3.
“We had a lot of team unity on the court tonight,” the coach mentioned, “as well as one incredibly powerful selfless act that I’m very proud of.”
The Lady Hornets travel to Conway on Saturday for a tournament. In pool play, they’ll take on Jonesboro at 9 a.m. At 11, they’ll play Hot Springs Lakeside.
When Bryant returns to conference play on Tuesday, they’ll travel to Cabot for a crucial match in the quest to qualify for State. They host North Little Rock next Thursday.
“We’re looking forward to seeing what we can build this weekend at the Conway Tournament and then next week with Cabot and NLR,” Solomon said.
Against Southside, the Lady Hornets were good on 46 of their 51 serves with four aces. Ashlyn Lee had two aces, Alex Dillard and Lylah Washington accounted for one apiece. Washington was good on all nine of her serves. Raven Loveless got in eight of her nine attempts and Kyla Baker was 7 for 8.
Lee finished with 19 assists. Washinton led the team in kills with eight. Dillard, Loveless and Sarah Clemmons had four each. Lee, Riley Hill and Brittney Warner added one apiece.
Baker had two digs and Reagan Blend one.
In a junior varsity match, Southside prevailed 25-13, 25-21.
Emily Hall and Faith Stone had four kills each, Kristin Boyle two, Cassie Ray and Imanii Jones one apiece. Boyle contributed three solo blocks.
Lindsey Maxwell finished with seven assists. She also had one of the team’s three service aces. Madi Draper and Macey Loudon accounted for one apiece.
