Siloam Springs' volleyball season will continue on for at least two more weeks.
The Lady Panthers defeated Sheridan 3-0 (25-15, 25-17, 25-23) on Saturday in the opening round of the 6A-West Conference Tournament at Panther Activity Center.
The Lady Panthers' victory clinched a spot in the Class 6A State Tournament, which will be held in Greenwood Oct. 24-26.
"I thought we came out pretty solid and pretty fundamental the first two games and really did some things we had been talking about this week, which was good to see of course," said Siloam Springs head coach Joellen Wright.
The Lady Panthers (14-14) hit the Lady Yellowjackets early and often in the first set, jumping out to an early lead and rolling to the 25-15 victory.
Sheridan pulled within 15-14 in the second set, but Siloam Springs scored 10 of the next 13 points to win the match, including five points from Ellie Lampton, who had four kills and an ace in the run.
Sheridan (17-12-1) actually took the lead in the third set at 18-16, forcing Siloam Springs to take a timeout. The Lady Yellowjackets led 22-21 but a pair of kills from Shaylon Sharp and two Sheridan hitting errors helped the Lady Panthers finish off the sweep.
"We started to wake up a bit," said Sheridan coach Emily Grimmett. "We had a long bus ride up here and then a little bit of nerves."
Lampton led Siloam Springs with 13 kills, seven digs, three aces and a block assist. Shaylon Sharp had 13 kills and eight digs and two block assists.
Chloe Price had four kills, four digs, two aces and 35 assists, while Allie Bowman had three kills, eight digs and two block assists.
Reigan Brown had three kills, five digs and a block assist, while Kenlie Noel had three kills and four block assists.
Kirsten Loftis had six digs, while Madison Hall had five digs.
The Lady Panthers, the No. 3 seed in the 6A-West Tournament, will now travel to No. 2 Benton on Tuesday for the second round. Benton defeated Texarkana on Saturday in a first round game.
"We are going to prepare for Benton," Wright said. "They have a strong outside hitter and a good setter and heavy handed servers. They're well coached. I'm looking forward to playing them."
Greene had 10 kills to lead Sheridan while Maggie Hicks, Kaylee Dillon and Sarah Moore each had six kills. Hicks led with 11 digs, while Moore had nine.
Sheridan will host Texarkana on Tuesday in an elimination match, with the winner advancing to the state tournament and the loser's season being over.
Greenwood 3, Siloam Springs 0
Just like they did in Greenwood on Sept. 14, the Lady Bulldogs survived the Lady Panthers' early onslaught and went on to a 25-23, 25-18, 25-16 sweep on Siloam Springs' senior night.
"We stuck to our game plan," said Greenwood coach Jennifer Golden. "We knew coming in it was senior night, last (regular season) home game for them. I told them in the huddle right before we went out, 'you girls have got to be ready because it's not going to be easy on their home court.' And it wasn't. They played a very good match tonight."
Greenwood outlasted Siloam Springs 32-30 in the first set in the Sept. 14 match and went on to a sweep that night as well.
In Tuesday's match, Siloam Springs led 23-22 in the first set when Greenwood called its last timeout to regroup. The break in action seemed to work. Siloam Springs served the next ball into the net, and Greenwood scored the next two points as well to take the first set.
The Lady Panthers led 10-7 in the second set, but Greenwood went on a 8-1 run to go up 15-11. Siloam Springs pulled within 15-13, but Greenwood answered with a 3-0 surge to go up 18-13 and re-establish control and won 25-18.
The Lady Bulldogs (25-7, 11-0) pulled out of another hole in the third set, trailing 11-7. Greenwood went on an 8-2 run to go up 15-13. Siloam Springs fell behind 18-14 and scored two straight to pull within 18-16, but Greenwood scored the next seven points to finish off the sweep.
It's the fourth time Siloam Springs has lost to Greenwood this season.
Siloam Springs head coach Joellen Wright pointed out that it's possible the Lady Panthers could meet Greenwood again either in the 6A-West Conference Tournament or Class 6A State Tournament, which will be held at Greenwood on Oct. 24-26.
"We only have to beat them (one) time, you know, and that's what I told them," Wright said. "This humbles us if anything because we're not ready to beat them. We've got stuff we have to work on. I told them that we looked awesome at times, and times we didn't."
Greenwood's Zoie Benton led the Lady Bulldogs with nine kills, while Carrie Ciesla and Camryn Presley each had seven kills. Ciesla also had 13 digs and 10 assists, while Lexie Castillow had 22 digs, Izzie Davis 17 digs and Brooke Shortes 15 assists.
Ellie Lampton led Siloam Springs with 11 kills and 13 digs, while Shaylon Sharp had eight kills, 10 digs and two aces. Allie Bowman recorded five kills, while Chloe Price had one kill, 23 assists, seven digs, two aces, two block assists and one solo block. Kirsten Loftis and Kailee Thomason each had seven digs, while Reigan Brown had four block assists and Kenlie Noel two block assists and one solo block.
Sports on 10/15/2017