FORT SMITH — Perennially, the Fort Smith Southside Lady Rebels have one of the best volleyball teams in the state and, on Tuesday, the Bryant Lady Hornets made their first trip to Southside in a 7A-Central Conference match.
The result was an 11-25, 9-25, 15-25 loss in the varsity contest and a 9-25, 19-25 setback in the JV match.
“We had a rough night tonight,” said Bryant head coach Beth Solomon. “We just couldn’t get going. Southside was a very smart team and was putting the ball everywhere we weren’t and we just couldn’t seem to get a jump on them. We would do some good things and follow it up by giving them point after point after point.”
Southside improved to 3-1 in conference play. The Lady Hornets are 1-3 going into a home match on Thursday against Cabot.
“We are going to regroup and refocus for Cabot,” Solomon stated.
Bryant had 18 kills as a team and just four service aces, though the Lady Hornets were good on 30 of 36 serves.
Raven Loveless, the only returning starter on the team, led with six kills. Lylah Washington had five, Brittney Warner four, Sarah Clemmons two and Ashlyn Lee one. Warner, Clemmons, Washington and Alex Dillard each had solo blocks.
Lee, the team’s setter, had 14 assists. Clemmons had two of the aces. Warner and Reagan Bland had one each.
The Lady Hornets recorded no digs against the tough Southside front line.
In the JV match, Faith Stone, Kristin Boyle, Cassie Ray and Imanii Jones each had kills. Beatriz Hernandez had a block.
Lindsey Maxwell led the team with four assists while Ray contributed the lone service ace. She was good on all seven of her serves.
Defensively, Ray and Jones had digs.
