By Mark Rico
Sports Editor
Conway – Five volleyball state champions were crowned on Saturday in Hot Springs but unfortunately the two area representatives were not among them.
Both Conway and St. Joseph’s were eliminated in their first games early on with the Wampus Cats falling in a five set thriller to Bentonville (25-13, 24-26, 18-25, 25-15, 15-11) and the Bulldogs losing in another five set nail-biter to Flippin.
The Wampus Cats – who finished 14-4 on the shortened season – were paced by Madison Holloway’s eleven kills.
Abby Masters contributed 21 assists and added 18 digs in the second round loss.
“We may have finished short of our goal of a state championship but we were grateful to have our sport back.” Conway head coach Laura Crow said. “We were just happy to have had a season.”
Kaylon Neal netted six blocks and Karis Scott slammed a pair of aces.
St. Joseph’s also took Flippin to a decisive fifth set before succumbing in the first round of the 2A state playoffs.
The Bulldogs (16-6) were led by a season high 18 kills from Olivia Williams, 11 from Presli Webb and 9 from Amy Lambe.
St. Joseph’s, who finished second in the 2A Central Conference, exited a lot sooner than expected.
“I did not see this one ending the way it did because I really felt like we were starting to play well but we had too many errors in this game.” St. Joseph’s head coach Luke Davis said. “When you have as many sophomores playing as we did, you never know how they are going to react in a state game. We had some step-up and some struggle, but we had a lot of bright spots for the future.”
The Bulldogs will graduate a pair of seniors – Libero Savannah Mooney and Lambe (an outside hitter).
Manager Shannon Trantina was also honored.
“I know these girls are going to be very successful in college, work, and life in general and I’m going to miss them.” said Davis.
Fayetteville, Greenwood, Valley View, Hackett and Mansfield were all crowned state champions.
Faulkner County Focus Sports 