In a battle between two of the top teams in the 5A South Conference, the Benton Lady Panthers remained undefeated in league play with a 3-0 sweep over the Lake Hamilton Lady Wolves Tuesday at Benton Arena.
The Lady Panthers absolutely dominated in the first two sets, coming away with 25-13 and 25-7 victories before fighting back for a 26-24 victory in the third set for the sweep.
“We did come out strong,” Benton Coach Brandy Chumley said. “I don’t think we made a whole lot of hitting errors.
“That third set, we made some errors, they got some momentum and they were keeping it in play when we weren’t. They got the lead, got a little run on us, but we finished it out because we were keeping it in play and they were making errors. That’s volleyball.”
After getting down 2-0 in the first set, the Lady Panthers (9-3, 7-0) went on a 5-0 run capped by two of senior Alex Bozeman’s aces for the 5-2 lead. Sophomore Hannah Brewer put down a kill assisted by junior Lydia Buchanan to start a 3-0 run capped by junior Grace Neighbors’ kill for the 9-4 lead.
Junior Katie Morrison started a 3-0 run with a kill to make it a 20-10 game and the Lady Panthers finished the set out on a 5-1 run started by a Brewer kill, with Neighbors coming up with two kills during the run.
The second set was all Lady Panthers as they took an 8-1 lead after two Buchanan aces and a Neighbors kill, and would go up 16-4 after Buchanan set Bozeman for a kill.
A double block by Bozeman and junior Riley Hathcote started a 6-0 run which Bozeman capped with a solo block for a point and 22-5 lead. Buchanan ended the set for the 18-point win with an ace.
The Lady Wolves (10-3, 5-2) made things interesting in the third set as a 4-0 run made it an 8-5 Lake Hamilton lead. But after Chumley called a timeout, the Lady Panthers responded with a 7-1 run started by a Brewer kill to put Benton up 12-9.
Another 4-0 run by the Wolves put them back on top by one, but a 5-1 run by the Lady Panthers, capped by consecutive Bozeman kills made it a 17-14 Benton lead. It was a fight until the end as Lake Hamilton went up 21-18 before Lady Wolves errors and a Brewer kill tied things up at 21-apiece. Lake Hamilton took a 24-22 lead, but the Lady Panthers scored four straight, including two Brewer kills, to take victory.
“They gave us some good competition compared to some teams we’ve seen this year, so we need that,” Chumley said. “We got to play some defense and be big at the net, so that’s what we need. So far they’ve (Lady Panthers) stepped it up whenever they needed to. Hopefully we’ll continue to do that.”
Benton will continue conference play on Thursday when the Lady Panthers travel to Texarkana to take on the Lady Razorbacks.