PEARCY -- Siloam Springs volleyball coach Rose Cheek-Willis didn't like what she saw early in Tuesday's opening round match against Searcy in the Class 6A State Volleyball Tournament and called timeout in game one after a Lady Panther was penalized for a net violation.
Siloam Springs led 11-7 at that point, but Cheek-Willis -- the longtime head coach who is retiring after this season -- had seen enough.
Class 6A State Volleyball Tournament
At Lake Hamilton High School
Tuesday
Match 1: W5 Lake Hamilton def. E4 West Memphis, 3-0 (25-14, 25-8, 25-11)
Match 2: W3 Siloam Springs def. E6 Searcy, 3-0, (25-13, 25-7, 25-9)
Match 3: W4 Benton def. E5 Jacksonville, 3-0 (25-9, 25-15, 25-8)
Match 4: E3 Mountain Home vs. W6 Sheridan, 8 p.m.
Today
Match 5: W1 Greenwood vs. Lake Hamilton, 2 p.m.
Match 6: E2 Jonesboro vs. Siloam Springs, 4 p.m.
Match 7: E1 Marion vs. Benton, 6 p.m.
Match 8: W2 Russellville vs. Match 4 winner, 8 p.m.
"I was embarrassed with our play," she said, citing multiple errors attributed to a lack of focus.
The Lady Panthers eventually worked the kinks out and rolled to a 3-0 (25-13, 25-7, 25-9) sweep of the Lady Lions at Wolf Arena at Lake Hamilton High School.
Overall, though, Cheek-Willis said it wasn't one of Siloam Springs' better performances of the year.
"We didn't play well at all," she said. "We didn't play up to our potential. When Searcy was able to pass it, they hit it fairly well on us."
Siloam Springs (18-17) advances to today's quarterfinals at 4 p.m. against Jonesboro (24-7), the No. 2 seed from the 6A-East.
The quarterfinals has been a roadblock the last five seasons for Siloam Springs. After advancing to the state finals in 2010, the Lady Panthers have been eliminated in the quarterfinals every year since then.
Siloam Springs and Jonesboro played each other at team camp, earlier this season, and the Lady Hurricane defeated the Lady Panthers, who were playing without their top outside hitter, Shaylon Sharp.
"They thumped us pretty good," Cheek-Willis said. "They're very good. They serve well."
Following Cheek-Willis' timeout in game one, Searcy's Bree Bartlett served an ace to pull the Lady Lions within 11-8, but it was all Lady Panthers after that. Siloam Springs went on a 7-2 run to go up 18-10, and Sharp and Katie Kendrick each served aces down the stretch for a 25-13 win.
Searcy (1-16) led 5-4 after a kill from Darbi Owen in game two, but the Lady Panthers got the ball back on an Ellie Lampton kill to tie the match. Elise Scarbrough then had two straight kills, and Shaylon Sharp served three straight aces to go up 12-5.
Leading 14-7, Andrea Lowry stepped back to serve and wound up serving 11 straight times to end the match, including six aces. The Lady Panthers had 17 aces in game two.
Sharp had two kills to start game two. After Searcy took a 5-3 lead, Sharp then served six straight aces as Siloam Springs went up 10-5. The Lady Panthers hit the gas after that, going on a 14-2 run to take a 24-7 lead before finishing the match with an Ellie Lampton kill.
Sharp led the Lady Panthes with eight kills, eight digs and 12 aces. Lampton had seven kills and two aces, while Chloe Price had four kills and 10 assists. Meg Gray had 14 assists, while Kelsey Lewis had eight digs and Lowry seven digs and six aces.
All 18 players dressed out for Siloam Springs were able to check into the match.
"We always try to do that," Cheek-Willis said. "We want them to get that experience, get that taste. We want to them to feel like they contributed."
Sports on 10/26/2016