Hot Springs faced the brunt of Benton's front line and rallied in a competitive matchup at Trojan Fieldhouse Tuesday night, but the Lady Panthers proved too much to overcome as the Lady Trojans fell in straight sets awarding Benton the conference win.
"Overall, I'm very pleased," said Hot Springs head coach Deane Franklin. "Playing a good team, you know what you need to work on. They showed some of our weaknesses, [but] overall I'm very pleased with the way we played. They didn't quit; had the fight in them. [We] kind of lost intensity in that last one a little bit, but I've got young players and a lot of inexperience. Overall, we set people who we needed to set, we had things going in the right direction and made some good choices."
Benton (13-1, 5-0 5A South) jumped out to an early 8-1 lead in the opening set behind the service of senior Kirsten Garner. Junior Jurnee Hicks answered for Hot Springs (5-4, 3-2) with five straight service points to pull the Lady Trojans within 8-6.
A big solo block by Hot Springs sophomore Marlissa Archie rallied the Trojan squad to 11-8, but Garner picked up four more service points to give the Lady Panthers a 24-15 edge en route to a 25-16 win of the first set.
In the second, the Lady Trojans refused to back down, getting on the board first, 1-0, before drawing to a 4-4 tie with the visiting team, and Hicks served up two to pull Hot Springs past for its second and final lead of the night, 5-4.
Both teams remained neck-and-neck throughout the course of the set with solid defensive work breaking up plays on both sides.
With work by Hicks and senior setter Iona Island pacing the front, the Lady Trojans slowed Benton's scoring run to pull within 14-10 before trading service with the Lady Panthers.
"Our communication was better," noted Franklin. "I'm not displeased at all in the way we played. We lost that fire in the third one, but they played really hard."
Hot Springs junior Katyra Johnson tallied two service points for the home team to keep the spread within reach while trailing Benton 20-16, and Archie added three more serves to pull within 23-19 before Benton picked up the final two points for the set.
Benton senior defensive specialist Mary Grace Guerra set the tone on a run of five-straight service points, stretching the gap to an early 5-0 advantage in the third set.
While trading service, the Lady Trojans rallied for each point but failed to get within 10 points throughout the course of the set.
With the scoreboard at 18-7 in Benton's favor, Guerra stepped to the back line once again and served up seven straight to close out the three-set battle.
"We weren't supposed to be in the ball park with Benton," Franklin said. "We aren't supposed to be able to play with them, but we just kind of showed that we can play with them and that we're a team to be reckoned with. I think we're going to be able to sneak up on some folks that think we're not going to be able to hang with them."
Island paced her teammates with 12 assists, four kills and four digs. Hicks led the front line with six kills while adding three digs, one solo block and a pair of aces.
Johnson tallied two assists while popping up six digs, and sophomore Bella Timm had two. Archie logged one kill, an ace and two solo blocks, and sophomore Anecia Owens collected two blocks. Junior Emma Campas tallied two kills for the Lady Trojans and a pair of digs.
Hot Springs will travel to Sheridan today to take on the Lady Yellowjackets in a conference matchup at 5 p.m.
*The Lady Trojan junior varsity team managed to keep up in the first set, but the squad struggled through some defensive errors that Benton capitalized on en route to a 25-16 Benton win of the opening set.
The visiting junor varsity squad jumped out to an early 11-0 lead under the service of Benton's McKenzie Worsham as the sophomore served eight points, including four aces.
The junior Lady Trojans rallied with some back-and-forth work to cut the deficit down 17-5, but the home team managed just three more points before another run by Worsham awarded Benton the 25-8 win for the two-set sweep.
Sports on 09/19/2019