CONWAY — Shayne Wiedemann was too precise for Conway.
Wiedemann, Bentonville’s 5-8 senior outside hitter, led her team with 18 kills, many of which hit either the sideline or baseline, as the Lady Tigers eliminated Conway 26-24, 25-20, 25-12 on Thursday in the semifinals of the Class 7A state tournament at Buzz Bolding Arena.
“The line is my favorite shot,” Wiedemann said. “I guess that’s what I’m known for in my conference. My coach has done a great job of helping with my precision and giving me the clues to where to hit and when to hit.”
“She was all over the floor tonight,” Bentonville Coach Michelle Smith said. “She took care of the back row. She took care of the front row. She was a fighter for us. She just had that steel in her eyes.”
Bentonville (31-7) will play Fayetteville (34-1) in Saturday’s championship game, a rematch of the 2010 title match won by Bentonville.
The Lady Tigers took down the host team by overcoming deficits of 8-3 and then 20-16 in the opening game.
“It was very important that we won that first game,” Smith said. “Being on their home court with their great crowd, every point they got, the place lit up.”
Bentonville squandered a 24-22 advantage and allowed Conway to tie the game at 24-24. But the Lady Tigers recovered to win the first game, and after the midway point of the second game, never really seemed to be in danger of losing the match.
“I felt like we had the momentum,” Conway Coach Andrea Fournier said. “But slowly as the match wore on, we lost it and we could never get it back. ... Their outside [hitters] were very strong. The first game, they were hitting into our blocks quite a bit and we were able to shut them down. But they found ways around our blocks, and that’s when they hurt us.”
Wiedemann also had 16 digs for Bentonville while senior setter Rebecca Brown posted 31 assists.
Conway (20-4) picked up eight kills each from McCall Wilkins and Sara Stovall while senior Ferrin Macon had 19 assists and three blocks.
FAYETTEVILLE 3, FORT SMITH SOUTHSIDE 0
Southside matched top-seeded Fayetteville point for point in the first half of the first game, but seven consecutive service points from junior outside hitter Hannah Pinter turned the momentum in the Lady Bulldogs’ favor.
Pinter finished with a game-high 14 kills as Fayetteville earned a 25-18, 25-11, 25-14 victory in Thursday’s first semifinal.
Southside (27-10) led 11-9 in the first game, but the match turned in Fayetteville’s favor when Pinter made a kill to give the Lady Bulldogs a 14-13 advantage. Pinter served the next seven points to push Fayetteville’s lead to 21-13.
Junior Paige Gocke added 13 kills for Fayetteville while junior Tatum Marshall served 4 aces, junior middle blocker Kennedie Daniel had 4 blocks and junior setter Aubrey Edie had 36 assists and 5 blocks.
Sports, Pages 25 on 10/28/2011