By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
Cabot and Jacksonville took part in the annual gigantic Spikefest volleyball tournament on Saturday, and both teams enjoyed success for the first time this season.
The Cabot volleyball team went 2-2 and got its first win of the year in the opener Saturday morning, beating Morrilton 25-23 and 25-14 in pool play.
Cabot was pooled with the Devil Dogs, Lonoke and defending Class 5A state champion Valley View.
Cabot faced the Lady Blazers in its second match and lost both sets by scores of 25-8 and 25-16. That left county rival Lonoke, which Cabot took care of 25-14 and 25-13, to finish second in its pool and move to the Gold bracket of tournament play.
Cabot found itself in a rematch of its season opening loss to Benton, and again fell to the 6A power that shares its namesake by scores of 25-18 and 25-13.
Valley View went on to win the tournament for the second-straight year. The Lady Blazers beat The Arkansas Flyers home school team 2-0, Fort Smith Northside 2-1, Van Buren 2-0 and Batesville 2-0 in the championship match.
Cabot had trouble with the serve of Benton’s Rylea Brimhall, who took serve with her team leading 8-7, and served 11-straight points for a 19-7 advantage that Cabot couldn’t overcome.
The Cabot Lady Panthers will open conference play in the 7A-Central on the road Thursday against Mount St. Mary.
Jacksonville opened pool play at Episcopal Collegiate, and did not get off to a great start. The Lady Titans dropped the first set to Jonesboro-Westside 25-6, but recovered for a much more competitive loss in the second set, 25-16.
Jacksonville then met 7A Little Rock Central and lost two nail-biter sets 26-24 and 25-22.
That left the host team in pool play. Jacksonville won the first set 25-21, but lost the second set 26-24. The way the tournament was scored for bracket play, it counted as a plus-two win for the Titans, and they were sent to the silver bracket for tournament play.
Matched up with Greenbrier in the first round, Jacksonville again suffered a bad first game, losing 25-11. Game two was closer, but the 5A-West team knocked the Titans out of the event with a 25-18 win.
Jacksonville opened conference play at Little Rock Hall on Tuesday. Look for details of that match in Saturday’s edition of The Leader.
