FOUNTAIN LAKE -- Fountain Lake swept Hot Springs as the freshman and varsity Lady Cobras took back-to-back straight-set wins over the Lady Trojans in the teams' season opener on Sammy Lambert Court at Irvin J. Bass Gymnasium on senior night.
The match also marked senior night for the Lady Cobras, as Fountain Lake head coach Tina Moore wanted to make sure her seniors were recognized in case the season is cut short.
"It was fun because our seniors were pretty hyped up," she said. "On the first set, I had girls playing positions they've never played before just because. They literally drew numbers out of a bucket to see who was going to start. ... It was a little scattered, but it worked out."
The opening set saw back-and-forth work early from both sides, with Fountain Lake taking a 4-2 lead before senior Landry Cate served up six straight including a pair of aces, pushing the Lady Cobras up 10-3. The spread hovered around 10 points until Hot Springs senior Jurnee Hicks served two straight to pull within 16-8.
Hot Springs rallied behind Marlissa Archie's big hit as the Lady Trojans racked up three more points, but the Lady Cobras regained their composure behind Cate's stealthy attack with classmate Brooke Wyatt on the assist to make it 21-11 en route to a 25-12 win.
"Fountain Lake's a good team," said Hot Springs head coach Deana Franklin. "Those kids have been playing club ball for a long time, and I get mine as a seventh-grader if I'm lucky -- a lot of times a ninth-grader before we get them. Playing against a good team like that gives you some things that we can sit down, talk about and work on."
Cate wasted no time in getting Fountain Lake going in the second with back-to-back hits for a 5-3 edge before junior Bella Timm countered with three straight serves to give the Lady Trojans a 6-5 lead.
Fountain Lake inched ahead behind the service of senior Siera Peters and Cate to take a 15-10 buffer, but after a quick 3-1 spurt by Hot Springs, highlighted by Archie's attack at the net, Hicks propelled the visitors to a 17-16 advantage behind four straight service points, including two aces.
The Lady Cobras rallied for a 9-3 run behind Peters to take a 24-19 lead, but the Lady Trojans managed to break service before Fountain Lake secured the second, 25-20.
"We put in our regular lineup, and they kind of struggled on a few service-receive points; they let them get back in the game," admitted Moore. "They kind of had a little slump right there at 16-all or something ... so that was kind of crazy, but then they regained their composure and the third set looked pretty smooth -- I subbed in a lot of JV'ers. Really in all three of the sets, we were kind of playing around with it being senior night, (and) I was trying to give them opportunity to just get on the floor, play and enjoy the moment. ... It was good energy and a fun night.
"These seniors serve to shine. They've put in six hard years, (and) they've played, most of them since the seventh grade. Their motto is, 'We play every game like it's the last, because it could be.' That's how they are with a big group of seniors like that."
Both teams showed their grit in the third set with back-and-forth play before senior Patience Campbell and Wyatt set up a power play that pushed the Lady Cobras ahead, 8-7. Classmate Hannah Bearden kickstarted a 9-3 run that was capped by classmate Carena Bledsoe's back-to-back aces for a 17-10 lead.
Lady Trojans senior setter Katyra Johnson set Hicks up for a kill to trim the gap for Hot Springs, but Fountain Lake swung the momentum in its favor, sealing the match on an 8-3 run for the 25-13 win.
"We've got to get ourselves together (because) we've got Malvern tomorrow at home, so got to put our tennis shoes on, bounce back and be ready to go again," Franklin explained. "They did a pretty good job. They work pretty well together. ... We're still working out some of the kinks. We've not been together but for about three weeks now as a whole working together on this kind of thing. ... I feel like they're growing and getting better."
Cate led both teams with 10 kills while adding three aces, one dig and two blocks. Bledsoe tallied nine kills, three aces and a pair of digs, and senior Presley Hamric finished with eight attacks and five assists.
Senior Gabrielle Gonyer added three kills, three blocks and one assist, Wyatt had five assists, an ace and six digs, and junior setter Sophie Skinner paced the court with 16 assists and one kill. Bearden added six digs and three attacks while Campbell logged five kills, one assist and four digs.
For Hot Springs, Archie led her teammates with seven kills while adding six digs, one block and an assist, and Hicks followed closely behind with four kills while tallying one block, three aces, seven digs and one assist. Johnson paced the floor with six assists and five digs, Emma Campas had a pair of kills and three digs, Jaylia Reed added four digs and two attacks, and Timm collected five digs and one kill.
• The ninth-grade match went to Fountain Lake after the junior Lady Cobras dominated the overall serving game Monday night.
Lilli Rediford got things going early with six straight service points, including five aces as the hosts rolled to a 25-14 win in the first set.
Both squads rallied early into the second, drawing a close margin until Rediford secured the lead and served up seven straight, including three aces, en route to a 25-15 win to close out the match.
