Lady Hornets shine, reaching Gold semifinals at Spikefest
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).
LITTLE ROCK — Impressive in defeat at Greenwood in a tough Central Conference opener on Thursday, the Bryant Lady Hornets continued their strong play at the Little Rock Spikefest, hosted by the Mount St. Mary Belles, on Saturday. They finished first in pool play then reached the semifinals of the Gold bracket against the top teams in the festival.
The Lady Hornets were eventually defeated by Texas High of Texarkana,Texas, 23-25, 15-25. To get to the semifinals, Bryant ousted Sylvan Hills, 25-15, 25-11 then Shiloh Christian, 25-18, 25-20. In pool play, they split with Pulaski Academy, 25-19, 15-25; then won 2-0 over Fort Smith Northside and Sheridan (25-19, 25-9).
In the semifinal loss, Allie Anderson finished with seven kills, Mercedes Dillard 5 and Kendall Selig 3. Britney Sahlmann contributed 16 assists and was 9 of 10 on her serves with one ace.
Selig was 8 for 8 at the service line with an ace. Whitney Brown and Nikki Clay were good on all six of their serves. Brown had an ace as well. Rylee Phillips contributed two solo blocks.
Against Shiloh Christian, Sahlmann produced six kills, Anderson four and Selig three. Sahlmann also had nine assists with Clay adding five. Clay led the team with 13 good serves in as many attempts with a pair of aces. Sahlmann was 10 for 10 with an ace and Brown added an ace as part of her nine good serves without an error.
The Lady Hornets won without a service error against Sylvan Hills as well. Anderson was good on 16 serves with two aces. Sahlmann had 10 good serves with an ace. Selig added six, Brown and Clay five each. Anderson also led with six kills. Clay had five, Sahlmann four and Selig three.
Savannah Shelton and Sahlman were each 10 for 10 from the service line against Sheridan. Each had an ace as did Kaci Squires. Anderson came up with 10 kills. Mariah Aguilar pitched in with four.
Anderson had 13 kills against Northside while Abby Staton got all 14 of her serves in with four aces. Sahlmann finished with 11 assists. She also had an ace among her seven good serves. Brown did as well with seven good serves.
Six different Bryant players contributed kills against Pulaski Academy with Anderson leading with seven. Clay had three. Sahlmann recorded 14 assists, Staton three. Sahlmann was also good on all 10 of her serves. Selig and Clay had seven good serves each.
The Lady Hornets will play their first home match this Tuesday, Sept. 9, against Central Conference rival Mount St. Mary Academy.
