Lakeside sweeps Texarkana

Maddie Trusty and Adachi Igbokidi combined for 21 kills and five blocks Tuesday as the Lakeside Rams volleyball team rolled to a 3-0 victory over Texarkana at the Lakeside Athletic Complex.

Trusty led both sides with 13 kills, eight digs, a block and an assist on the night while Igbokidi had eight kills with four blocks, an assist and a dig.

"She is a beast at the net," Lakeside head coach Rhonda Thigpen said of Igbokidi. "She's a sophomore. I can't even believe the future that she can have. She has a great attitude. She is definitely one of the best middles around this area. Already she's developed her game."

Lakeside (7-1, 4-1 5A-South) dominated the court from start to finish as Texarkana (5-9, 2-3) had the lead just once, scoring the opening point of the first set before Claire Monte's service put the Rams in motion.

The Rams rolled to a 4-1 lead before the Lady Razorbacks broke service, but Texarkana could not get a rally going, failing to pick up another point before Molly Stineman served four straight to take a 9-2 lead. Texarkana continued to battle but could not score on its own service.

"We could have come out a little hotter," said Texarkana head coach Kelsey Jackson. "Lakeside's a good ball club. This will help us going into Thursday though. We had some good areas, some good points, and we've just got to build from those."

Meghan Fuller-Freeman served for five straight points to stretch the Rams' lead to 19-5, and both teams exchanged service several times before the Rams secured the 25-9 win.

Texarkana managed to score three times on its own service in the second set, but back-to-back service by Monte and Stineman gave the Rams an early 11-1 lead as they went on to take the second set, 25-10.

"I was impressed," Thigpen said of Stineman. "I think her ball control was good, not just her digs, but her service-receive ball control."

The Rams struggled some in the third set, allowing the Lady Razorbacks to pull within 4-3 after Lakeside claimed the early 3-0 lead, but Thigpen got the team going again after Texarkana took a timeout.

Lakeside stretched the lead to 15-9 with the service of Mary Catherine Cowen before claiming the 25-13 win for the match.

The Rams had excellent service on the night, serving for 14 aces in the match with Fuller-Freeman leading the team with five, Stineman adding four, Olivia Lawrence two and Monte and Cowen one each.

Lawrence dominated the floor as the Rams' setter, tallying 27 assists along with two kills, two blocks and two digs.

"She did really well," Thigpen said. "She is probably one of our best defensive players. You don't have that very much in a setter. I watch her. We get in a game that's not as fast-paced, and I can see her moving. She reads (well)."

Stineman had 19 digs to lead the team defensively, and Monte added five kills and four digs. Lyca Steelman also added seven digs for the Rams.

Kaitlyn Fortenberry had 13 assists with the team's only ace, and Makenna Ivey led the team with six kills and four digs.

"She's a pretty good setter," Jackson said of Fortenberry. "She's one of our captains. (Ivey) has been hurt; she's our other captain. Fortunate Barry did a good job also. Having (Ivey) hurt has hurt us, but (Fortenberry) is solid for us, every game. So is Barry."

Sydnee Blackwell added four kills, Fortunate Barry had four assists and Teala Johnson had four digs. Kailey Burns led Texarkana's defense with 19 digs.

"She's come back from an injury also," Jackson said of Burns. "We're trying to rebuild this year."

Prior to the varsity match, the Rams honored area emergency service personnel, introducing the individuals before holding a moment of silence in memoriam of the 17th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center.

"Tonight, I wanted to be special since it's 9-11," Thigpen said. "I really wanted to have good support and teach these young ladies about respecting those that give. For all those different groups to come out, I was impressed, and they stayed. That's what the night was about. I knew if we could get up for that, we could get up for the game."

Ainsley Rottinghaus played the national anthem on a violin before the teams took to the floor.

Lakeside will travel to Little Rock today to face J.A. Fair (0-6, 0-5). Texarkana will host Lake Hamilton (9-2, 4-1).

* The two teams also played two junior varsity matches, with Lakeside taking both matches in straight sets. The Rams won the JVB match, 25-7, 25-6, and they claimed the JVA match, 25-15, 25-11.

Lakeside was led offensively in the junior varsity matches by Alexis Drake with six kills and two blocks while serving for three aces, and Wesley Divers had four kills with four digs. Haley Fauber led the team's setting with 10 assists while adding three kills and three digs, and Natalie Jennings had nine assists with 10 digs, four kills and two blocks. Jennings also led the team with nine aces.

Defensively, Macy Landry led the Rams with 16 digs while serving for four aces. Ella Caroline Arnold and Emillyana Kejser also served for a pair of aces each.

* Lakeside's junior high tam fell in three sets Tuesday against Conway. The Rams (7-5-1) fell, 25-18, 25-27, 15-11.

They were led by the front row play of Sarah Porter with five blocks, five kills, two digs and one ace serve. Vivien Mardis had five digs, six assists and two kills. Libby Divers had five kills, 11 digs and one ace.

Other contributors included Mady Davenport, four kills and eight digs; Carsen Cordell, two solo blocks, five digs, one kill and six aces; and Kaitlyn Threadgill, who held down the back row with a personal-high 22 digs.

The Rams will host Camden Fairview today for a conference match at 4:30 p.m.

The eighth-grade (5-2) team also fell in three sets, 16-25, 25-16, 15-8. The team was led by Cordell with 11 service points and Kate Foreman's 10 points, including three aces.

Lake Hamilton eliminated Lakeside on Saturday in bracket play of the Russellville Invitational tournament. The Rams swept Searcy, 25-10, 25-15, and Clarksville, 25-10, 25-20, before splitting, 25-16, 14-25, with Conway White. The results gave Lakeside the No. 1 seed in their pool ahead of bracket play.

Sports on 09/13/2018

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