Lady Panthers play solid in Branson

n The volleyball team advanced to the semifinals of the Licking Team Camp.

Photo submitted Members of the Siloam Springs High School volleyball team pose for a picture in front of the giant ax at the entrance to Silver Dollar City theme park near Branson, Mo. The Lady Panthers spent last week in Branson competing at Licking Team Camp.
Photo submitted Members of the Siloam Springs High School volleyball team pose for a picture in front of the giant ax at the entrance to Silver Dollar City theme park near Branson, Mo. The Lady Panthers spent last week in Branson competing at Licking Team Camp.

The Siloam Springs volleyball team had a productive trip to Branson, Mo., last week.

The Lady Panthers were among 122 teams from seven different states that attended the Licking Volleyball Camp in Branson on Thursday through Saturday. Prior to the camp, the Lady Panthers spent Wednesday at Silver Dollar City theme park for team bonding.

In bracket play on Saturday, Siloam Springs advanced to the tournament semifinals where it was ousted by Jonesboro, the 2017 6A state runner-up.

"It was a long week but a good week," said Lady Panthers head coach Joellen Wright. "We competed well. I thought we competed solidly. There's room for improvement of course. You never know when you lose some key people, how that is going to affect everything? They had good chemistry together

Most of the matches Siloam Springs played were two-set matches heading into Saturday's competition. Wright estimated the Lady Panthers played around 23 sets for the entire camp.

"That's a lot of sets in a couple days," she said, estimating Siloam Springs won 75 percent of its sets.

Wright said she tinkered with the lineup quite a bit, looking for different combinations as the Lady Panthers ran both a one-setter offense (5-1) and a two-setter scheme (6-2).

Before bracket play started on Saturday, Siloam Springs played the same Jonesboro team that it would lose to later in the day. Siloam Springs defeated Jonesboro 25-23 in the first set before losing in the second set.

Siloam Springs won its first two games of bracket play to advance to the semifinals.

"We played really smart," Wright said. "In the semifinals we lost to Jonesboro in two (sets). I think we were out of gas. I know our middles were way out of gas. Their offense is so varied, and they have two really good outsides."

Wright said players that played in junior varsity roles last season did a good job of stepping up and "being varsity ready."

"You could see the growth," she said.

Senior setter Chloe Price earned All-Camp team recognition.

"She had a really great camp," Wright said of Price, who is a four-year starter. "We didn't keep stats, but she had a lot of assists and makes such good decisions with the ball. She's a strong server and directs traffic out there really well. It's not surprising that they added her to that."

Senior outside hitter Ellie Lampton, a 2017 All-State honoree, also played well, Wright said. Price and Lampton are coming off a strong club season with the Ozark 17-1s that placed third at AAU Nationals out of 100 teams this past week. Lampton made the All-American team for the tournament.

The Lady Panthers are headed to Springdale Har-Ber on Thursday for a playday, where they'll play around five matches.

Then on Wednesday and Thursday of next week, they'll go to a team camp at Arkansas Tech in Russellville.

Sports on 07/18/2018