CABOT — Bentonville and Little Rock Central had the same school colors and mascot, but the resemblance ended there in Tuesday's first-round Class 7A state volleyball tournament match.
Juniors Katelyn McCarthy and Tatum Fredeen each had nine kills as Bentonville's Lady Tigers swept Little Rock Central 25-9, 25-22, 25-10 in a match that lasted only 52 minutes at Cabot High School.
"First games always are a concern," Bentonville Coach Michelle Coens said. "You've got the adrenaline flowing. You've got the emotions flowing. It can work positive, or it can work negative. I think my girls came out really ready in that first game and controlled their emotions.That's important, especially in a sport like volleyball where you're hitting things. With that adrenaline flowing, your serves can hit the back wall very easily."
Bentonville, the No. 3 seed from the 7A-West, advances to play North Little Rock in today's quarterfinals.
With both teams dressed in black, Bentonville (25-8) quickly proved to be the better squad, taking only 15 minutes to grab the 25-9 victory.
Central put a scare into Bentonville in the second game, rallying to a 22-22 tie. Bentonville, however, responded by winning the game's final three points.
"We showed a few sparks in the second game," Central firstyear Coach Ana Buccini said. "I was very pleased with the way we played in the second game. We actually challenged them. That's the way we should have played the whole match. We had some silly mistakes at the end.Otherwise, I think we could have really challenged them."
Junior Tara Fredeen led Bentonville in blocks with four. Junior Kailey Kelly served six aces, and senior Hannah Nestor led the team with 11 digs.
"I told our girls that [Central] was a better team than what they showed in the first game," Coens said. "They were going to show us they're a good volleyball team, and they did. They caught us on our heels a little bit, but my girls showed a lot of character by coming back and winning a close one and by taking care of things in the third game."
Bentonville used only 12 minutes to finish out a 25-10 third game.
Despite the loss, Buccini said she saw some positives.
"I think we improved as a team a lot," said Buccini, who took the Central coaching job only a few weeks before the season started. "It was just too short of a season to work on everything we needed to."
Sports, Pages 23 on 10/31/2007