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FAYETTEVILLE -- Bentonville put together a great defensive effort, but Fayetteville settled down and pulled out a 21-25, 25-14, 25-18, 25-13 6A-West Conference win Thursday night. The Lady Purple Bulldogs (14-1, 9-1) bounced back after their first loss of the season and did it without starting outside hitter Perry Flannigan, who is out with an injury for an undetermined period right now, Fayetteville coach Jessica Phelan said. Rosana Hicks put down a match-high 24 kills and Brooke Rockwell added 15. Setter Kennedy Phelan ran an efficient offense, racking up 50 assists. Gracyn Spresser led the Fayetteville defense with 22 digs and Ashley Ruff added 12. Phelan said her team settled down after the opening set. She praised the work of sophomore libero Ashley Ruff, lifting her team throughout the match in terms of energy and communication. "I think that Bentonville played fantastic defense," Phelan said. "They put a lot of pressure on us in terms of extending rallies and emotionally had some big points go their way. Sometimes you've gotta shake that off and that's easier said than done. I think we did a better job with communication and energy throughout the rest of the match. "I thought Ashley did a great job with her energy and helping everyone with their communication. She's always talking to the hitters. From this point forward, there's not much time left. We want to come back ready to go and focused next week." Bentonville (8-5, 3-5) put up a fight throughout, which pleased Lady Tigers coach Michelle Smith. "The fight now matter what the score was, a coach couldn't ask for more," Smith said. "It didn't matter what the score was tonight, those girls gave us 100 percent, very proud of them. "That's our goal every time we play a team our goal is to improve. Some of our young ones are maturing and trusting the process and it's showing. The Lady Tigers, who lost in three sets to Fayetteville earlier, put together a huge 11-1 run to turn a 16-12 deficit into a 23-17 advantage en route to winning the opening set. Lefty Reagan Tunnell had a couple of aces in the run and Hamilton had two kills as Bentonville found holes in the Fayetteville defense. But Fayetteville stayed in control most of the final three sets to rebound from its first loss of the season. Hamilton led Bentonville with 12 kills and 12 digs, while Tunnell added eight kills and three aces. Jamie Myrick finished with an incredible match-high 42 digs. PHOTOS: Click Here

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Bentonville High School Athletics

PREP VOLLEYBALL FAYETTEVILLE REBOUNDS FROM FIRST LOSS OF THE SEASON

PAUL BOYD

nwaonline.com | 10/9/2020

PHOTO CREDIT: Charlie Kaijo