In what was an epic match in the first round of the 5A State Tournament in Jonesboro, the Benton Lady Panthers would fall just short of advancing to the quarterfinals Tuesday. South No. 2 seed Benton would fall 3-2 to the East No. 3 Nettleton Lady Raiders to end the Lady Panthers season.
Benton (18-7) won the first set 25-17 before the Lady Raiders came back for a 25-8 victory in the second. From there, no team won by more than two points as the Lady Panthers went up 2-1 with a 26-24 win in the third set. But, Nettleton won 26-24 in the fourth and squeaked by the Lady Panthers 19-17 in the fifth and final set to advance to play West 4 seed Russellville today at 5 p.m. in Jonesboro.
“It was a really good game,” Benton Coach Brandy Chumley said. “It could have gone either way. We had our opportunities and had our chances. We just didn’t finish.”
“They’re a good team,” Chumley said of Nettleton. “They played really well. They dug some really good hits from us. I thought we played well. We just made a few mistakes at not so good times and gave them too many points.”
In her final varsity match, senior Alex Bozeman had 12 kills, three aces and assisted on a block for a point.
“Alex Bozeman played really well,” Chumley said. “Just her energy and she hit really well around the block. We went to her a lot.
Read the rest in Wednesday's The Saline Courier.