JONESBORO — Just a couple of days removed from a long trip to El Dorado, the Bryant Lady Hornets traveled to Nettleton High School to wrap up the 2013 regular season and prepare for their Class 7A State Tournament opener at Cabot next Tuesday.
Though the Lady Raiders prevailed 25-21, 25-11, 25-13, Bryant head coach Beth Solomon said, “Nettleton was a great match to play before we head to State and see Cabot.
“Our girls worked hard but just couldn’t pull it out,” she related. “They had a great first game and went point-for-point with them. They played about as hard as they ever have. After the first game, we just couldn’t get things going.”
Bryant won the junior varsity match, 22-25, 25-21, 15-13.
“Skylar Harper had a great night,” Solomon said. “We moved two of our ninth graders up to help us out since we’ve been injury stricken, Alex Dillard and Tiberia Foote.”
In the varsity contest, Allie Anderson had five kills, a block, a dig and served up an ace. Sierra Jones added four kills and Mercedes Dillard three. Rylee Phillips, Dejai Kelley and Britney Sahlmann had a kill apiece.
Sahlmann contributed 12 assists and three digs while leading the team with three aces, going 15 of 15 on her serves. Savannah Shelton and Abby Staton each served up aces as well.
Whitney Brown led with six digs. Shelton and Mercedes Dillard had four and Shayla McKissock three.
In the JV match, Harper finished with seven kills, two assists, a dig and an ace. Mariah Aguilar added six kills, Alex Dillard five and Emily Henson four. Foote finished with three kills and two aces. Alex Dillard also served up a pair of aces with Madison Greeno, Aguilar and Shelton knocking down one each. Shelton finished with 23 assists.
The JV team finished its season 13-1.
The varsity plays Cabot in the first round at State at 4 p.m. Tuesday at Cabot.
