RUSSELLVILLE — Playing in the brand spanking new arena at Russellville High School, the Bryant Lady Hornets suffered a disappointing straight set loss to the Lady Cyclones, 25-18, 25-18, 25-18 on Tuesday night.
The setback came after Bryant defeated Russellville at home on Sept. 10, 21-25, 25-15, 25-22, 27-25.
On the trip to Russellville, the Lady Hornets accumulated 34 kills but had 19 hitting errors out of 102 attacks. They had six service errors but only six aces as well in 56 attempts.
“It was not a good night,” said Lady Hornets coach Beth Solomon. “There’s not a lot to say about how we played other than we just did not get it done and did not look like us, at all.”
Allie Anderson had 19 kills and Raven Loveless seven. Britney Sahlmann contributed three kills to go with 25 assists and eight digs. Brittney Warner finished with three kills. Kendall Selig and Alex Dillard had one apiece.
Anderson also accounted for four of the aces, going 10 of 12 at the line. Whitney Brown was good on all 14 of her serves and had a team-high 12 digs. Selig and Brown each served up an ace. Kaci Squires was good on all eight of her serves and had five digs.
The Lady Hornets dropped to 7-3 in the 7A/6A-Central Conference after coming in tied with Conway for second place overall. They are 2-1 in all-important 7A league games. They’ll host league-leading Greenwood (9-1) on Thursday in hopes of avenging a 3-0 loss on the road to the Lady Bulldogs. Greenwood is a 6A team. Bryant’s next 7A match is at home against Mount St. Mary Academy on Tuesday, Oct. 13.
“We’re going to regroup and have things ready to go for Thursday,” Solomon declared. “We’ve got to defend our home court and get fixed what wasn’t fixed tonight for sure. We’re going to play better. We need some fans out there to support us and we’re going to get the job done on Thursday.”
In a JV match on Tuesday, Russellville prevailed 25-21, 25-18.
Reagan Blend had half of Bryant’s 12 kills. Reagan Dabbs had three, Shaelyn Smith, Riley Hill and Jad’n Nichols finished with one each. Smith had two aces while getting in all 17 of her serves. Kyla Baker and Kasey Ward served up an ace apiece. Ward was good on all 10 of her serves as Bryant finished with just three service errors in 40 attempts.
Ashlyn Lee finished with 12 assists and three digs to lead the team in both categories.
