Several area teams will be on the road this week as state volleyball tournaments kick off today.
Cutter Morning Star, Fountain Lake, Lakeside and Lake Hamilton will all represent Garland County this week, while Malvern and Arkadelphia also will take to the road.
The Lady Eagles (13-10, 7-3) earned the No. 2 seed from the 2A-Central, and they will travel to Paragould today following a 9 a.m. sendoff as they face off against Alpena (12-7, 9-4), who enter as the No. 3 seed from the 2A-West.
Opening serve at Crowley's Ridge High School is set for 7 p.m. The winner will play Wednesday at 7 p.m. against the winner between the No. 1 seed from 2A-North, Midland (12-7, 7-3), and the No. 4 seed from the 2A-East, KIPP Delta (5-7, 2-6).
"I've reached out to some of the coaches that have played them, and we got some film," CMS head coach Brittany Senn said. "They are really scrappy and athletic. They play good defense, and they push the ball a lot."
Senn said she feels her team is in a "good spot," especially after last week's second-place finish at the 2A-Central district tournament.
"We are getting better each game, and I think we are peaking at the right time," Senn said. "We had a big win to get the district runner up.
"We had practice (Sunday) night and a film session. They are really energized."
Fountain Lake (15-6, 9-1) enters the tournament as the No. 2 seed from the 3A-South conference, and the Lady Cobras will face off at 7 p.m. at Paris High School against Clinton (6-11, 4-8), the No. 3 seed from the 3A-North. The winner will play Wednesday at 7 p.m. against the winner of Harding Academy (16-4, 11-1), the top-seeded team from the 3A-Central, and Piggott (13-10, 11-5), the No. 3 seed from the 3A-East.
Lakeside (18-1, 13-1) enters the tournament as the top seed from the 5A-South, facing off at 5 p.m. in Jonesboro against the No. 4 seed from the 5A-East, Mountain Home (10-6, 8-6). The winner will play at 3 p.m. Wednesday against the winner of Sylvan Hills (12-8, 7-3), the No. 2 seed from the 5A-Central, and Siloam Springs (12-6, 10-4), the No. 3 seed from the 5A-West.
Lake Hamilton (13-5, 10-4), the No. 3 seed from the 5A-South, will face off at 7 p.m. against Paragould (16-3, 12-2), the No. 2 seed from the 5A-East. The winner moves on to play Wednesday at 7 p.m. against the winner of top-seeded Greenwood (18-1, 14-0), of the 5A-West, and Parkview (7-8, 4-6), the No. 4 seed from the 5A-Central.
"They're a good team," Lady Wolves head coach Karen Smith said. "They're not No. 2 because they're not a good team. We won't see a team at state that's not good. We're just going to do the best we can to prepare for a good team."
The Lady Wolves are continuing to improve each time they step on the floor, Smith said.
"I think that these girls had a great season," she said. "We have worked through a lot of things. Even in our last game Thursday against Cabot, I saw improvement on some of the things we've been working on. Every time we get out on the floor, I feel like we just got better."
The squad includes eight seasoned seniors.
"They've all played all season long, and they've all contributed," Smith said. "It's worked out, that I've been able to put all eight of them on the floor for almost every single set this season, which is kind of exciting. At the same time, we have a lot of learning and building to do next year."
Malvern (14-7, 11-3) is the No. 2 seed from the 4A-West and Arkadelphia (14-6, 9-5) is the No. 3 seed. They play on opposite ends of the Class 4A bracket. The Lady Badgers face Morrilton (17-0, 14-0), the top-seeded team from the 4A-Central, at 1 p.m. on Court 1 with the winner advancing to a 1 p.m. game Wednesday against the winner of second-seeded Shiloh Christian (15-4, 10-1), of the 4A-Northwest, and Batesville (14-7, 11-5), the No. 3 seed from the 4A-Northeast.
"We played them this summer in a team camp up at Hendrix," Arkadelphia head coach Jenny Coon said of Morrilton. "They're good. They wouldn't be the No. 1 seed if they weren't. We're excited about the opportunity to compete with them. They've got two good outsides and a middle. They've got to stop us, too, just like we've got to stop them. I'm excited to see how our group of kids are going to compete."
This marks the first year Arkadelphia has advanced to the state tournament since 2015 and is the third time with Coon at the helm.
"We had a really good last week of the season," she noted. "We needed to beat Magnolia to give ourselves a chance to finish in the three-hole, and we lost the first two games them, 23-25 and 24-26. We were right there on both of them. Instead of saying, 'Aw, heck, it's over,' we bucked up and won the next three games and won the fifth one, 15-9, and never trailed."
Coon said she feels this could be the start of a trend for the Lady Badgers with eight sophomores on the roster.
"We're losing some good players, but I'm hoping that this is going to be the start of us going to the state tournament every year," she said. "The majority of the kids that are playing on the varsity are sophomores. We're losing very good seniors, but I'm hopeful that these sophomores understands what it takes to get there."
Malvern will face the No. 3 seed from the 4A-Central, Lonoke (11-7, 9-5), at 3 p.m. on Court 2. The winner will have a 5 p.m. match on Wednesday against the winner of Valley View (17-1, 16-0), the top seeded team from the 4A-Northeast, and Farmington (11-6, 8-4), the No. 4 seed from the 4A- Northwest.
Sports on 10/23/2018