LITTLE ROCK — Along with the announcement that the Class 7A State basketball tournament will be played at Van Buren, the Arkansas Activities Association announced the venues for the State competitions for the spring sports and for the 2010 volleyball season this fall.

Van Buren’s Clair Bates Arena will be the site for the basketball tourney March 2-6 with the finals to be played at the Summit Arena in Hot Springs.

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The end of any season is bittersweet but it’s especially so when the end comes sooner than you’d planned.

The Bryant Lady Hornets volleyball team had their sites set on finishing the season with a trip to the Class 7A State Tournament in Van Buren, taking a shot at making some noise there.

By Rob Patrick

NORTH LITTLE ROCK — If this was it; if the Bryant Lady Hornets’ hopes of reaching the Class 7A State Tournament in Van Buren ended on Tuesday, Oct. 20, with a 3-0 loss at North Little Rock; and, if this season begins a new era of success for the Lady Hornets program, the senior class of 2009 will at least be able to look back and say, “We were there. We helped turn it around.”

It won’t be certain until the coaches get together on Wednesday, Oct. 21, to compare scores but with their 11-25, 15-25, 14-25 loss at North Little Rock coupled with Cabot’s 3-1 win over Van Buren, the Lady Hornets may well have been knocked out of a State big despite being tied with Cabot for the sixth spot with a 6-8 league mark.

As best as can be determined, that’s the best conference record by a Bryant team this decade.

VAN BUREN — As fine a season as the Bryant Lady Hornets have had, particularly in light of past struggles, there is little room for error in their quest to reach the Class 7A State volleyball tournament. After losing in four games at Van Buren, 18-25, 22-25, 25-23, 11-25 on Thursday, Oct. 15, the Lady Hornets must win at North Little Rock in their final conference game on Tuesday, Oct. 20, or hope that Van Buren follows up its victory with another one against Cabot that evening.

“Going into Thursday night, we were tied for third in conference,” noted Lady Hornets coach Beth Solomon. “After the loss, we’re doing to being tied for fifth. The North Little Rock match is crucial for us. The girls have got to come out and play and be ready to step back up.

By Rob Patrick

As it turns out, the Bryant High School athletes will continue to compete in the Central Conference after this year.

As part of the usual two-year cycle re-alignment by the Arkansas Activities Association, Bryant had been assigned to the South Conference in a move that mixed Class 7A and Class 6A schools in hopes of saving travel costs.

Of course, even that re-alignment saved some teams travel while increasing others so there was a lot of dissatisfaction expressed about the plan. As it turned out, the schools that would most benefit from the cut-down in travel were those in Little Rock (Hall and Parkview, moving from the East to the Central, and Fair, moving from the South to the Central).

Editor’s note: This is a regular feature profiling senior athletes at Bryant High School.

NAME: Taylor Shutt

DATE OF BIRTH: May 24, 1992

PARENTS: Rick and Deana Shutt

SIBLINGS: I’m an only child.

FAVORITE SUBJECT IN SCHOOL: If lunch counted as a subject it’d be lunch but other than that, volleyball.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE TO DO IN YOUR SPARE TIME? I used to work at Larry’s and that consumed all my time but now I just like to sleep.

FAVORITE FOOD: Probably Pasta Milano from Macaroni Grill.

FAVORITE MUSIC ARTIST OR GROUP: How about Paramore.

The South Division of the Central Arkansas Junior High Conference won all but one match in the first round of the league's post-season tournament on Wednesday. The lone team from the North Division to win was top-seeded Conway White which knocked out the South's eighth seed Cabot South, 25-12, 25-10.

Bryant, the top seed from the South Division, had a first round bye and will now play North Little Rock in the 10 a.m. match on Saturday.

Editor’s note: This is a regular feature profiling senior athletes at Bryant High School.

NAME: Heather Light

DATE OF BIRTH: Aug. 17, 1991

PARENTS: Kellie and Chuck Light

SIBLINGS: I have a brother and a sister. Chase is 13 and Brittany is 19.

FAVORITE SUBJECT IN SCHOOL: Science.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE TO DO IN YOUR SPARE TIME? I like to sleep.

FAVORITE FOOD: Anything Italian. That’s my favorite.

FAVORITE MUSIC ARTIST OR GROUP: All kinds.

By Rob Patrick

CONWAY — For years, the Conway Lady Wampus Cats, along with Fort Smith Southside and just a few others, have set the standard in volleyball in Arkansas in its highest classification.

And while this may not be a vintage year as far as domination goes, they’ve still gone unbeaten through the 7A-Central Conference to this point.

The Bryant Lady Hornets had hopes of punctuating their breakout season with a victory over the Lady Wampus Cats when they traveled to Conway on Tuesday, Oct. 13.

But it didn’t happen. Conway improved to 12-0 in league play and added the Lady Hornets to their list of teams swept in the conference this season with a 25-8, 25-19, 25-9 win.