By Graham Thomas
Staff Writer n [email protected]
Prior to Tuesday's important 5A-West Conference home match against Russellville, the Siloam Springs volleyball team had to get itself back in order.
The Lady Panthers had just been swept at Greenbrier 3-0 (25-20, 25-10, 25-13) in its last time out and head coach Joellen Wright felt like there were things that needed to be hashed out.
"We pretty much had to have a reset on Monday about effort and communication and intensity and little things that it takes to be successful," Wright said.
So the Lady Panthers were reminded of those things with lots of conditioning in between.
"I would say that got their attention," Wright said.
Siloam Springs responded the very next night with a 3-1 (25-19, 25-22, 26-28, 25-22) victory at home against the Lady Cyclones to complete the first round of 5A-West Conference play with a record of 5-2 and in a three-way tie with Russellville and Greenbrier.
With Greenwood going 7-0 in the first round of league play and Siloam Springs, Russellville and Greenbrier all beating up on each other, the battle for second place is wide open, according to Russellville coach Ashley Camp.
"Depends on the night really," Camp said. "It really is because you look at scores on Maxpreps and it's like this one beat that one and that one beat this one. It honestly depends on the night and who's ready to bring it in my opinion."
Siloam Springs was ready for Russellville on Tuesday.
Siloam Springs won the first two sets against Russellville thanks to a hot start from senior Ellie Lampton, who finished with 22 kills, nine digs and seven aces on the night.
Lampton had six kills and three aces in the first set as Siloam Springs opened up a large lead and held off Russellville for the victory.
Russellville (10-9-2, 5-2) led 11-4 in the second set, but Siloam Springs came back and cut the lead to 11-10. An ace from Russellville's Ruthie Jacimore gave the Lady Cyclones a 13-10 lead, but Siloam Springs went on an 8-3 run to take a 18-16 lead and they wouldn't trail again in the set.
Rachel Conrad started the run with a kill in the middle and Reigan Brown added a pair of kills along with kills from Lampton and Chloe Price.
A Siloam Springs hit out of bounds brought Russellville within 21-20, but the Lady Panthers reeled off four straight to get game point and then won 25-22.
Russellville jumped out to another big lead in the third set, going on a 10-2 run to lead 11-4. Siloam Springs closed the gap to 15-12, but Russellville again got it back out to 19-12. The Lady Panthers came roaring back with two aces from Lampton and three kills from Brown. Two straight kills from Lampton tied the set at 23, and the two teams traded match point before Russellville finished off a 28-26 win with a kill from Hannah Vines and an ace from Jacimore.
"I'm proud of the way they responded," Wright said. "They persevered, even through game three when we were down and came back and made it a game."
Siloam Springs led 18-13 in the fourth set, only to watch Russellville score six straight and take a 19-18 lead.
Siloam Springs responded with two kills from Lampton and an ace from sophomore Makenna Thomas to take the lead back 21-19.
Russellville wouldn't go away, tying the match 22-22 after a block. But the Lady Cyclones served the next ball out of bounds and had two straight hitting errors as the Lady Panthers took the match victory.
"I told them we can't hang our heads too much because honestly I thought they honestly played their butts off," Camp said. "We had some sophomores step in that I needed. Some people really pulled their weight and more,
Lilly Ruston led Russellville with 11 kills, while Meg Atchison had nine kills. Lizzy Callaway led Russellville with 22 digs, while Gracie Palmer had 23 assists.
Chloe Price had 13 kills and 20 assists for the Lady Panthers while Reigan Brown added 12 kills and one ace.
Katie Kendrick added six kills for Siloam Springs. Jael Harried and Conrad each had two kills, while Thomas finished with 24 assists, seven digs and one ace.
Kelsey Lewis led the Lady Panthers defensively with 35 digs.
"(Lewis) anchors it down back there -- solid corner to corner," Wright said. "She knows the game really well and she was reading tremendously tonight. ... You can't get better than 35 digs."
Siloam Springs 3, Beebe 0
The Lady Panthers swept Beebe 25-13, 25-21, 25-18 to start the second round of 5A-West Conference play on Thursday at Panther Activity Center.
Chloe Price led Siloam Springs (12-7-1, 6-2) with 12 kills, 14 digs and 13 assists, while Katie Kendrick had seven kills.
Reigan Brown added five kills and seven digs, while Ellie Lampton had four kills and Makenna Thomas with eight assists.
Kelsey Lewis contributed 15 digs and two aces.
The Lady Panthers return to action at Alma on Tuesday before hosting Greenwood on Thursday.
Sports on 09/30/2018