September 24 in Bryant athletic history: 2009

Photo by Rick Nation

Junior Lady Hornets overcome sluggish start, Mounties on the road

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).

LITTLE ROCK — Coming off a second-place finish in the Conway Invitational Tournament over the weekend, the Bryant Lady Hornets freshman volleyball team returned to action in the South Division of the Central Arkansas Junior High Conference on Monday and came away with a tough victory on the road. Bryant edged the Mount St. Mary’s Mounties, 29-27 in the first game of the match, then lost game two, 25-15 before rallying to win the match, 25-22, in game three.

The win improved the Lady Hornets to 6-2 overall and in divisional play this season, going into the Thursday, Sept. 24, match at home against Sheridan.

In eighth grade action, Bryant Blue won 25-15, 25-15 over Rose City while the seventh grade team prevailed 25-18, 17-25, 15-8.[more]

In the freshman match, Hannah Rice led with seven kills. McKenzie Rice added six kills to go with eight assists and Courtney Davidson pitched in with two kills, three blocks and five assists. McKenzie Adams contributed three kills, three blocks and an assist with Brooke Howell coming up with two blocks and two assists.

“We came out very passive,” commented head coach Monica Parish. “We settled for dinks instead of kills. We would free ball the third hit instead of move our feet and get into position for a hit.

“At one point, Mount St. Mary’s was ahead 14-4,” he noted. “But we finally started playing the net aggressively.”

McKenzie Rice had four straight points to narrow the margin to 18-22 but the Mounties got the next two to get within a point of winning the game. But Howell served for six straight points with the help of strong net play to tie the score at 24. The match went back and forth before the Lady Hornets pulled it out in the end, 29-27.

Any momentum the Lady Hornets built out of that seemed to dissipate in the second game, however.

“We had five different serves put serves in the net or out of bounds,” Parish mentioned. “We could not get any momentum.”

But Hannah Rice started off game three with four straight points and the Lady Hornets never trailed on the way to the victory.

In the eighth grade game, head coach Melissa Bragg mentioned that the top server was Nicole Guyett with nine.

“Dezarea Duckworth was great at the net with four kills,” she added. “The girls really played well.”

Of the seventh grade game, Bragg said, “It was crazy. Twenty-six girls total played in three games.”

The Bryant Blue eighth grade team will also play Sheridan on Thursday.

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