Lady Cobras spoil Lady Hornets’ home opener

For more photos of this event by Kevin Nagle, go here, and by Rick Nation, go here

Raven Loveless (15) follows through on a spike. (Photo by Kevin Nagle)

In a pair of tight sets, the Bryant Lady Hornets volleyball team came up on the short end to go down 0-2 in the best of five match against the Fountain Lake Lady Cobras at Bryant High School gym on Thursday night. They battled back to win the third game but couldn’t sustain the momentum as they absorbed their first loss of the 2017 season, 19-25, 20-25, 25-17, 16-25.

“We didn’t have the outcome we wanted tonight,” said Lady Hornets coach Beth Solomon. “We were looking for domination after the way we played Tuesday night at Lakeside. Unfortunately, we just couldn’t get a groove going.

“We know the talent and skills are there,” she asserted. “We saw it Tuesday. Now we have to figure out how to keep it on the court all the time. We have all day Saturday to figure it out.”

Ivory Russ (19) goes up for a hit over a Fountain Lake defender. (Photo by Kevin Nagle)

The Lady Hornets play in the annual Little Rock Spikefest Saturday.

Against Fountain Lake, Faith Stone stepped up with 14 kills. Raven Loveless had 10 and Truli Bates eight. Kristen Boyle added seven, Ivory Russ four and Ashlyn Lee three.

Lee led the team with 30 assists. Lexi Brown added seven.

In service, the Lady Hornets were good on 75 of their 80 serves with Reagan Dabbs good on 15, Kyla Baker 14, Brown 11 and Erin Thompson 9 without an error. Lee was 13 of 15 and Cassie Ray was 11 of 14.

Lee and Thompson managed the only aces.

Brown had six digs. Ray and Dabbs five each, Thompson four. Lee, Loveless, Russ and Baker dug up two apiece.

At the Spikefest, the Lady Hornets will be playing two-set pool play matches at Little Rock Christian against Central Arkansas Christian at 9 a.m., then Texarkana, Texas at 11 a.m., and Greenbrier at 1 p.m. Bracket play in one of three tournaments (Gold, Silver and Bronze) will begin at 3 p.m., best of three.