IN SHORT: North Pulaski survived a conference road match Thursday night by holding off the hosting Lady Badgers in three hard-fought sets at Beebe High.
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
North Pulaski picked up a conference win Thursday night on the road at Beebe. The Lady Falcons beat the Lady Badgers 3-0, but were given a major tussle through the first two games.
The turning point of the match was late in game two. Beebe led throughout most of the game, but never by more than two points. The Lady Badgers took their biggest lead of the match when three straight points on serve by Mykia Cox gave them a 20-17 lead.
North Pulaski called timeout, and Beebe committed several unforced errors the remainder of the game. The Lady Falcons outscored Beebe 8-2 the rest of the way to win the game 25-22. Beebe fell behind early in game three and couldn’t fully recover despite rallying at the midway point of the final game.
Scores in the match were 25-22, 25-22 and 25-19.
North Pulaski ran out to a 10-6 lead in game three, but Beebe rallied to tie it at 16-16. The Lady Falcons then extended the lead again on the serve of senior Taylor Barrow and held on for the game and match.
North Pulaski never trailed in game one. The Lady Falcons built their biggest lead of the entire match at 19-12, but the Lady Badgers rallied on Cox’s serve and the help of strong inside hitting by Emily Rogers. The Lady Badgers cut the margin to as little as 22-20, but could get no closer.
Beebe took its first lead of the match at 3-2 in game two, and didn’t trail until the very end when the Lady Falcons went up 23-22. North Pulaski finished off the game on two straight points on serve by Tauneishia Ridgeway.
Beebe’s Rogers and North Pulaski junior Samantha Barrow tied for game-high honors in kills. Each player finished with 11 kills. Samantha Barrow also led the Lady Falcons in points on serve with eight. Cox finished with nine points on serve and five kills for Beebe. The Lady Falcons improved to 3-5 and 2-4 in conference. Beebe fell to 2-6 and 1-5.
