HARRISON - The Shiloh Christian Lady Saints used their huge height advantage to hit 40 kills Tuesday in a 25-13, 25-13, 25-14 victory over Conway St. Joseph in the first round of the Class 3A state volleyball tournament at the Brandon Burlsworth Youth Center.
Of the five players who played on the front row for the Lady Saints, the shortest was 5-9 with the tallest 6-2. The tallest player the Lady Bulldogs (12-9) had was 5-8 Brooke Mayor.
"The girls were really excited about having a near open net," Shiloh Christian Coach Karen Morris said. "It took us a while to get going, but they got a little more confident as the match went on and discovered there wasn't much resistance at the net."
The victory was Shiloh Christian's first at a state tournament in the program's sixyear history.
The other three teams from the 3A-Northwest Conference - Lavaca, West Fork and Mansfield - also won their firstround matches Tuesday.
"It just shows how tough our conference was this year," Morris said. "We lost five times this year, and four of those were in conference play."
Sisters Alex Fleener, a 5-10 junior, and Mandy Fleener, a 5-9 sophomore, had a combined 24 kills. Alex Fleener had six of her match-high 14 kills in the first game as the Lady Saints (15-5) rallied from a 3-0 deficit, going on a 5-0 run to take the lead for good at 8-5. Alex Fleener had three kills and a block during the run.
Even with the Lady Saints' success at the net, the Lady Bulldogs trailed only 17-13 after Shiloh Christian's sixth hittingerror. But the Fleeners made a combined five kills and a block to lead an 8-0 Lady Saints run to finish the game.
The Lady Saints again fell behind to start the second game, but the Fleener sisters made a combined five kills to take a 6-3 lead. The Lady Bulldogs pulled even at 8-8 on an ace by Cara Massery, but that was answered with a 4-0 run by the Lady Saints.
It was 18-13 when the Lady Saints again finished with a big run, scoring the last seven points that included two kills by Mandy Fleener, who had five of her 10 kills in the game.
In the third game, Shiloh Christian broke a 2-2 tie with a 12-1 run, taking a 14-3 lead after four kills by Alex Fleener and two more by Mandy Fleener. Conway St. Joseph then made its best run of the match, outscoring Shiloh Christian 14-7 to pull within 21-14. But the Lady Saints scored the final four points to finish the game and the sweep.
"Our girls aren't used to seeing a team as big as they were," said Conway St. Joseph Coach Luke Davis, whose team had only 10 kills. "Once they got going with all the kills, it just seemed like we couldn't do anything to match that."
Kami Garrison added 10 kills for the Lady Saints.
Massery led the Lady Bulldogs with four kills, while Mayor had three kills and a block.
CLASS 3A TOURNAMENT TUESDAY'S SCORES Lavaca def. Atkins, 25-10, 25-9, 25-6 Piggott def. Cotter, 25-14, 25-17, 25-23 West Fork def. Episcopal Collegiate, 25-21, 19-25, 25-17, 25-23 Crowley's Ridge def. Marshall, 25-11, 25-10, 25-19 Green Forest def. Hoxie, 25-10, 25-16, 25-20 Shiloh Christian def. Conway St. Joseph, 25-13, 25-13, 25-14 Brookland def. Yellville-Summit, 25-8, 25-17, 25-13 Mansfield def. Mayflower 25-7, 25-15, 25-9 TODAY'S MATCHES Lavaca vs. Piggott, noon West Fork vs. Crowley's Ridge, 2 p.m.
Green Forest vs. Shiloh Christian, 4 p.m.
Brookland vs. Mansfield, 6 p.m.
Sports, Pages 23 on 10/31/2007