By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
Beebe’s volleyball team can’t make the state playoffs, but it had a score to settle when it went to Sherwood to face Sylvan Hills in a 5A East volleyball matchup. The Lady Badgers settled that score by avenging an earlier loss and beating the Lady Bears 3-0 for their second conference win of the season.
“Just winning the rest of them is what we’re playing for now,” Beebe coach Ashley Camp said. “We have new goals set, some higher expectations, and I’m proud of the way they played tonight.”
Camp stopped short of saying it was her team’s best performance of the season, but did see some things she was pleased with.
“I think we may have played our best match against Greenbrier, but this one wasn’t bad,” Camp said. “The main thing that was good to see was that we finished. We’ve talked a lot of about closing things out when we get a lead. We’ve let some go this year, but they stayed focused tonight and finished in each game.”
The Lady Badgers had to rally in game one after falling behind 7-1, and then again 15-8. Lady Bear sophomore Val Jarrett dominated at the net in the early going, but Beebe’s defense began rotating to Jarrett’s side. After a couple of blocks against Jarrett, the comeback was on.
Beebe sophomore Madison Richey took serve with her team trailing by six and stopped serving down 15-14. Richey’s serve was trouble for Sylvan Hills throughout the match.
“She’s got the talent,” Camp said. “We’re working on getting her to be more vocal and assertive out there. Her serve is usually on, and it was on tonight.”
After a kill by Sylvan Hills senior Zaneb Rehman, Beebe’s Stephanie Pollnow served an ace to tie game one for the first time. She also served four straight, giving Beebe a 21-18 lead.
After falling behind 19-23, Sylvan Hills rallied to tie the match, but Beebe broke serve for 24, and junior Morgan Henry served the game out for the Lady Badgers.
The Lady Badgers raced out to a 7-1 lead in game two, only for Sylvan Hills to come back and tie it at 14. Richey again served six straight for the Lady Badgers to start the game, but Jarrett took over at the net and rallied the Lady Bears. Beebe’s Lesslie Colbert took serve with the game tied at 14 and served four straight, including two aces, to put Beebe in control. At 19-16, Richey scored three more on serve, including two more aces to make it 22-16.
Sylvan Hills rallied again to cut the margin to 23-22, but Colbert ended the game with a strong kill to put Beebe up 2-0.
Beebe trailed early in game three, but took its first lead on a service ace by Emily Epperson that made it 10-9. Richey took serve again with Beebe leading 14-11 and served two more aces in a six-point rally that put the Lady Badgers up 20-11.
After some back and forth, Pollnow’s team-high 13th kill ended the match with authority.
Sylvan Hills played the game without four players who took part in the previous meeting between the two teams. It was the Lady Bears’ fourth game with only eight players.
“It’s been one of the toughest years we’ve had,” Treadway said. “We expected to be able to compete this year. We struggled early and some of them just didn’t want to stick it out. The team that’s left, I really enjoy. These girls have stepped up and volunteered to take on roles they’re not familiar with. It’s difficult when you’re shorthanded, but these players we have left have been a lot of fun to work with.”
Richey scored a game-high 21 points on serve, including seven aces. Pollnow also served well, scoring 12 points and also finishing with four blocks.
Colbert had eight kills for Beebe.
Jarrett led all players with 16 kills.
Each team has one conference game left. Beebe travels to conference-leading Little Rock Christian while Sylvan Hills goes to Vilonia.
