Bryant girls win fourth straight with payback for Belles
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).
Photos by Rick Nation
The Bryant Lady Hornets avenged one of their two 7A/6A-Central Conference losses Thursday night with[more] a 3-1 win over the Mount St. Mary Belles at the Hornets Nest. It was the fourth consecutive victory for the Lady Hornets who maintained their share of second place in the conference. They’re now 8-3 overall and 7-2 in league play going into Tuesday’s trip to Cabot.
“Our defense saved us tonight,” stated Bryant head coach Beth Solomon. “When we were digging up their hits and they went to tips, our defense was there to cover those as well.”
The Lady Hornets dropped the first game 17-25 but came back to win 25-19, 25-17, 25-17.
“During the second game we started mixing some things up, subbing in and out,” Solomon mentioned. “Carley Choate and Courtney Davidson both went in off of the bench for us and helped us out.”
Choate came on and contributed five digs, eight good passes with eight good serves including two aces. Davidson contributed two kills and a good pass.
The Lady Hornets piled up 50 kills from six different players, led by McKenzie Rice with 16 and Brooke Howell with 11. Alyssa Anderson added nine to go with a solo block and two assists. Brianna White contributed seven kills, three solo blocks and an assist.
“Our hitters also really had a great night,” Solomon acknowledged. “McKenzie Rice, Brooke Howell, Alyssa Anderson and Brianna White all played great games. Hannah Rice even managed to get some key hits in for us.”
Hannah Rice had five kills to go with 34 assists and seven digs. She also contributed 14 good serves with a team-high three aces.
Howell was 17 of 17 on serves and Lauren Reed 9 of 9 while also leading the team with 18 digs. Howell had 10.
In a junior varsity contest, Bryant won the first game 25-20 but Mount rallied to win 2-1 with 25-20, 15-5 scores in the second and third games.
The Lady Hornets JV only managed 14 kills as a group. Aubree Allen, Alex Boone and Erica Smith had three each. Smith and Allen also had a pair of solo blocks.
Carley Choate led the team with 10 assists.
Davidson paced the defense with nine digs. Britten Hays had five as did Kaylon Wilson and Caylin Choate.Davidson had 10 good serves with two aces. Carley Choate was good on eight of nine from the service line with a team-high three aces. Allen was good on all eight of her serves including an ace.
