Dinks prove key to freshman volleyball team’s comeback win in final road match
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).
PEARCY — Lake Hamilton is always a difficult place to win and, after the first game of their match with the Lady Wolves on Monday, Oct. 5, the Bryant Lady Hornets freshman team had a full understanding of that. But, to their credit, the Lady Hornets battled back to win the second and third games and the match, 20-25, 25-20, 25-19, to keep their hold on first place in the South Division of the Central Arkansas Junior High Conference.
With their fifth win in a row, the Lady Hornets improved to 13-3 overall and 10-2 in Divisional play going into their final two contests during the regular season. They host Conway Blue on Thursday then Cabot South on Monday before the start of the Central Arkansas Junior High Conference post-season tournament which will be held at Bryant.
In an eighth grade game on Monday, Lake Hamilton prevailed over Bryant White, 25-16, 25-22.[more]
In the opening game of the freshman match, the Lady Hornets got going with Hannah Rice serving, reeling off points 2 through 5.
“After that, we could not protect our serves to roll off continuous points,” recounted Bryant head coach Monica Parish. “We didn’t take advantage of what Lake Hamilton was giving us. We had the dink all night long and, instead, we tried to kill our hits down the line and they would return them on us.”
That changed in the second game, she added. “We made the necessary adjustments and started dinking the ball in the second game and then, in the third game, we could hit again.”
Still, the Lady Hornets fell behind 4-1 early before McKenzie Rice rotated into service and reeled off points 3 through 6 as Bryant surged into the lead. After that, the teams traded side-outs before Bryant’s Alyssa Anderson put together a little run from points 12 to 15. After trading side-outs again, the game was deadlocked at 19.
“Then Sarah (McPherson) came off the bench to score consecutive 20-24,” Parish related.
The momentum stayed with the Lady Hornets as the third game unfolded. Courtney Davidson served for the first three points of the match and, later, McPherson got on a roll again as the Lady Hornets scored points 16 through 21 consecutively.
Hannah Rice led the team with six kills. McKenzie Adams and McKenzie Rice added five each with Anderson and Davidson picking up four apiece. Adams added seven tips and three blocks, Davidson five tips and two blocks with McKenzie Rice adding two tips while contributing six assists.
In the eighth grade game, Coach DeAnna Ward noted that Kayla Jolly served six points in the first game including two aces.
“Whitney Butler also had a good night serving six points in the second game,” said Ward.
cash loans
Thank you for your help!