By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
It took coming from behind in all three games, but the Sylvan Hills Lady Bears swept 5A-Southeast Conference rival Beebe 25-20, 25-20, 25-19 at Badger Sports Arena on Tuesday to claim their first league victory of the season.
The Lady Badgers (2-6, 1-3) took early leads in each of the three games, but could not hold off Sylvan Hills once they seized momentum halfway through the sets. The Lady Bears (4-8, 1-4) erased an early 5-1 deficit in the first game, and rallied after trailing 5-2 in Game 2. Beebe held a narrow lead through the first half of the final set until Lady Bears junior Val Jarrett closed out the match with a strong performance at the service line with two aces and a couple of force-outs against the Lady Badgers.
“We needed tonight,” Lady Bears coach Harold Treadway said. “We needed a win in the worst way. The girls responded well. Beebe is a good team – they are a scrappy team.”
Beebe junior hitter Stephanie Pollnow put her superior size to good use throughout the match for the Lady Badgers with a game-high eight kills and three blocks, with five kills and two blocks coming in the final game.
A new strategy and look on the court paid off for the Lady Bears. Treadway and assistant coach Laura Allred have experimented with the lineup, moving senior setter Darrin Flippo to a back-row position and putting sophomore Michelle Sorensen in her spot. Another sophomore, K.K. Fulton, was also assigned to the libero spot, marking the first time Sylvan Hills has gone with a true libero.
The middle and back support worked, giving senior hitter Zaneb Rehman and Jarrett the green light to play aggressively at the net. Rehman responded with four blocks, including back-to-back blocks at the end of the second game, while Jarrett had four kills and three aces. Rehman also had three kills.
“She’s really worked hard,” Treadway said of Rehman. “Her blocks are okay, but when she gets her hits, they’re awesome too.”
It was Beebe sophomore Madison Richey who made the most noise at the net early on with thee blocks in Game 1. But as Rehman got hot for the Lady Bears midway through the second game, she was able to cancel Richey out, leaving it up to Pollnow to try and make plays for Beebe from the right side.
“We worked on a lot of different stuff this week, and I saw it in spurts,” Lady Badgers coach Ashley Camp said. “We come up, and then we loose three points the same way. We do not have the ball control we need, and that’s what’s killing us. And our over passes are killing us.”
Camp was particularly pleased with the leadership shown by junior setter Morgan Henry during the match.
While Henry served as on-court general, Pollnow served as the spark plug for the Lady Badgers with a series of solid smashes, followed by spirited celebrations following successful kills.
“We’re working on a lot of stuff with her,” Camp said of Pollnow. “Running slides, and she jump-served tonight for the first time. She did pretty well with that – it’s not aggressive yet, but consistency is what we’re going for right now.”
Beebe held the lead through the first half of Game 2, and held on down the stretch with a kill by senior Lesslie Colbert that put them up 17-15, and a kill by Richey that was assisted by Henry gave the Lady Badgers a slim 18-17 advantage. But Ashton Williams tied the game for Sylvan Hills with a kill, and Flippo followed with an ace to give the Lady Bears the lead for the first time, 19-18.
Rehman gave Sylvan Hills game point with two key blocks, and senior Mallory Rushin finished it off for the Lady Bears with a kill from the left side.
“I thought that late in the second game and late in the third game, we stopped their adjustments,” Treadway said. “They started dinking the ball – tipping it over. They went to a back-row attack and stayed off the front row quite a bit. But our back row picked it up and gave us a chance.”
