By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
Sylvan Hills got the volleyball season off to a good start Tuesday with a 3-1 win on the road at Maumelle.
The Lady Bears suffered a couple of lapses in intensity during the game, the first coming at the very beginning when Maumelle jumped out to a quick and sizeable lead.
“The nice thing about it was that we made a nice comeback in that first game and were really able to maintain that momentum into the next one,” said Sylvan Hills coach Harold Treadway. “The bad thing was, we didn’t really come out as focused as we should have.”
After falling behind 10-2 in game one and still trailing 20-15 late in the set, the Lady Bears went on a 10-1 run to take the opener.
Their dominance didn’t stop in game two, as Sylvan Hills scored the first six points en route to an easy 25-13 win. That game may have been too easy, because Treadway felt like his team suffered another lack of focus in game three.
“I thought we’re rolling now,” Treadway said of the game-two momentum. “Then we go out and lose the third game, just with a bunch of mental mistakes. In a game like this, those come from just a lack of focus.”
Treadway was able to get the team’s focus back during the break before game four, and Sylvan Hills avoided a game five on the road.
“Another good thing is I don’t think we ever weren’t playing hard,” Treadway said. “I thought we played hard, we just lost a little bit of focus at certain times and we’re still learning to play together.”
Treadway’s team features several sophomores and six players who transferred from North Pulaski over the summer. That many new people playing together for the first time makes team chemistry a focus during early practices, and is a cause for patience from the head coach.
“As far as attitudes and getting along, everybody is blending together very well,” Treadway said. “But we still haven’t found that leader on the court that’s going to step up and encourage everybody. Right now everybody’s doing a good job of encouraging everybody, but a team needs that one people look to. And not just when things are going good, but sometimes even when they’re not going so good. I think eventually we’re going to come around. Right now it’s just going to take a little time.”
