Valley View put on a show that was fitting of a team that has 15 state titles and 18 straight appearances in the statefinals as the Lady Blazers took a 3-0 victory over Brookland in the Class 4A state final at Bank OZK Arena for their sixth straight title.
Valley View senior Michayla Mears earned the MVP award with six kills, two blocks, 10 assists and seven digs.
"No matter what the outcome was, we had seven seniors on the team, and they just wanted to put it all out there on the court, and they did," an emotional Valley View head coach Margie McGee said. "They played defense well. We went back to basics in blocking -- they owned that today with their blocking -- and they forced them to do some things to hit balls out. If you would have seen the matchup a week and a half ago against them, it was nothing like this one. They played hard, that's all I can say. They showed up, and they played hard."
After a slow start by both teams, Valley View junior libero Olivia Miles served up nine straight to take a tie to a 15-6 lead in the first set that the Lady Bearcats (21-4) could not combat. Brookland struggled to pick up points off the serve, and a big block by Valley View senior Ashley Lamkin gave the Lady Blazers the 25-13 win.
Junior Tolly Fagan served up five straight to start things off strong for Valley View (25-1) in the second set, but both teams stagnated a bit. Brookland slowly chipped away at the deficit for a three-point hole before Miles stepped to the back line for seven straight serves, including a pair of aces, to skyrocket to an 18-7 lead. Missteps by the Lady Bearcats helped to continue to push Valley View further ahead, including a double-hit error to end the second set, 25-12.
Brookland refused to quit, gathering up all they had to battle in the third. After giving up the first point on another double-hit error, senior Skyler Maynard connected with classmates Ashton Hamrick and Hope Barlow to a slight lead, but after one team picked up a pair off the serve, the other responded in kind until Fagan hit a three-serve run to take a 16-13 lead.
"They were ready," Brookland head coach Nancy Rodriguez said. "Valley View was so prepared. I mean, we beat them last Thursday. They were so prepared; they came out ready to play. We didn't."
After a Maynard-Hamrick connection to break service, Barlow picked up three straight kills, for an 18-17 lead. Valley View took a single-point lead that Brookland immediately matched before a big block by Lamkin broke service for the final time as Miles served up the final five points to take the win.
Senior Ashley Lampkin had five kills and five blocks, and junior Alexandra Gibson added six kills and two blocks. Junior Tolly Fagan added five kills and 15 digs while classmate Hadden Lieblong tallied 10 assists and 5 digs.
Senior Ashton Hamrick had 13 kills for Brookland (21-4), which was the only team to beat Valley View this season. The Lady Bearcats held on to defeat the Lady Blazers in five sets during the conference tournament on Oct. 22.
Brookland struggled without senior setter Darby Hall, who injured her back during warmups Saturday and was unable to take the court. Rodriguez said that while her team played well, it definitely was missing the emotional leadership of Hall on the court.
"I really feel like it was their girl that's their emotional leader was in the back corner getting worked on to see if she could play. ... She plays back row, but she's one of our go to servers, and she's just the energy of our team," Rodriguez said.