Trip is long but performance strong for Lady Hornets
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).
SILOAM SPRINGS — “The only thing that makes that long road trip better is coming home with a win,” declared Bryant Lady Hornets volleyball coach Beth Solomon after her team’s 25-17, 25-11, 21-25, 25-20 win over the Siloam Springs Lady Panthers Tuesday night. “We got there from our five-hour bus ride and took care of business.”
Bryant won the JV game as well, 25-15, 25-20, fresh off the bus after traveling to the northwest corner of the state for the 7A/6A-Central Conference contest.
“I was very proud of the girls, both JV and varsity,” Solomon said.
“Varsity started off the first game a little rocky and then got it going and came out with a good win,” she continued. “In game two, we had quite a delay from Siloam Springs that the girls fought through to win.
“We really thought that we were going to come out in game three and take care of business and finish in three and head home but Siloam Springs ended up catching their wind and won game three,” the coach related. “The girls came out in game four ready to play. It went back and forth for a while and then we took care of business.”
Allie Anderson finished with 33 kills on 57 attacks. Britney Sahlmann had 30 assists and was 15 of 15 on her serves with two aces. Anderson had two aces as well with Kaci Squires adding another. Whitney Brown was good on all 15 of her serves. Shayla McKissock was 13 of 14 and Savannah Shelton 19 of 22.
At the net, Raven Loveless had four kills, Alex Dillard three with Kendall Selig, Brittney Warner and Sahlmann contributing two each. Anderson had two solo blocks and Warner one.
Defensively, Brown had 12 digs, Shelton and McKissock 10 apiece. Sahlmann had nine, Squires eight.
“Allie Anderson had another solid game,” said Solomon. “She probably played the smartest game I think I’ve ever seen her play; deciding when to tip at the right time and when to slam the ball at the right time.
“Savannah Shelton, I felt like had a great game and was named Player of the Match on Maxpreps this game,” she noted. “Savannah has really been working hard and I felt like she really stepped up and did her job and refused to let any ball hit the ground if it was in her vicinity.”
In the JV match, Reagan Blend and Shaelyn Smith had six kills each. Riley Hill added three with Jad’n Nichols, Sarah Kennedy and Warner getting one apiece. Nichols had a solo block.
Ashlyn Lee contributed 13 assists and, along with Blend and Kyla Baker, had two aces at the service line. Nichols was good on all nine of her serves. Lee was 11 of 12 and Kennedy 9 of 11.
Baker led with 10 digs. Kennedy had six with Lee, Blend and Smith coming up with three each.
Bryant is set to host Russellville this Thursday.
