CONWAY -- Rose Cheek-Willis ended her high school coaching career on a winning note Wednesday.
The West All-Stars -- led by the legendary Siloam Springs coach, who retired this year -- rallied from a 2-0 hole to come back and earn a 3-2 (19-25, 20-25, 25-19, 25-17, 15-8) win in the Arkansas High School Coaches Association All-Star match played at the Farris Center on the campus of the University of Central Arkansas.
It was a fitting end for Cheek-Willis, who was the West head coach and prides herself and her teams on being scrappy with a never-give-up attitude.
"It's been a fun week," Cheek-Willis said. "Oh my gosh it's been fun."
Cheek-Willis, who won 566 games and seven state championships in 36 years at Siloam Springs, pointed out that the West also snapped the East's three-game winning streak in the All-Star volleyball match. The East had also won five of the last six.
"It's been a while," she said.
Springdale Har-Ber standouts Klaire Trainor and Emily Doss proved to be quite a tandem for the West.
Trainor, an outside hitter who is walking on at the University of Arkansas, finished with a match-high 17 kills and eight digs and was named MVP.
Doss, meanwhile, finished with a game-high 30 digs. The libero, who was playing on her future home court at UCA, was the West's Most Outstanding Player.
"Doss, I nick-named her 'Sassy' because she's got a lot of sass, man," Cheek-Willis said. "Doss is scrappy. She reads, she knows she's going to fight. She's awesome. Getting to know them in a different way was a lot of fun."
Another Har-Ber standout, Arika Johnson, who played her sophomore season under Cheek-Willis at Siloam Springs, finished with 27 assists, five kills and 11 digs. Former Fayetteville middle Faith Waitsman had 10 kills, while her Lady Bulldog teammate Abby Kathol had 10 digs. Sealy Thigpen of Mena had 14 assists.
Sara Betts of Marion had 13 kills and was the East's Most Outstanding Player.
It took a little while for the West to get going.
The East jumped out to a big lead in game one and finished off a 25-19 victory. The East then took game two 25-20.
Cheek-Willis said she sat in a chair on the bench early in the game because her back was sore from a pulled muscle.
"Boy when we got beat I didn't like that, so I stood up from then on and I was into the game," she said. "I just felt like we should have controlled it, and (the East) did. My hat's off to them in game one, they controlled it. They took us by surprise."
Cheek-Willis told her players she felt like they played a little tense early.
"I said, 'Girls I'm gonna tell you I've coached many a time. I've seen the best of players -- Division I players -- and they're tensed up.' I felt like we were. We didn't play up to our level in the first game, but we came back. It was fun."
Cheek-Willis said the West began to find their rhythm in games three and four.
"In game five, they just finished it," she said. "They didn't look back."
Cheek-Willis said she enjoyed getting to coach one last time in the All-Star game, especially against some players that she's competed against during the high school season.
"You know you coach against them, and so your thoughts about them are so different when you get to coach them," she said. "Like the big girl from Greenwood, Madi Pfiefer, she is a hoot. She is funny. I loved her. She and I connected after years of fighting each other on the court."
Cheek-Willis also enjoyed working with her assistant coaches Patricia Glover of Malvern, Trista Killingsworth of Green Forest and April Mattix of Harrison.
"I had great assistant coaches that I had a blast working with," she said. "They were great. Our chemistry was good."
Cheek-Willis admitted the taste of victory one last time does make it hard to walk away.
"Yeah but," she said and then turned to her longtime friend and assistant coach Joellen Wright, who will be the Lady Panthers' head coach this fall. "It's her turn."
Sports on 06/25/2017