CONWAY -- Greenwood's Lexie Castillow may only be 5-1 inch, but she stood tall in the Arkansas High School Coaches Association All-Star volleyball match.
Castillow helped lead the West to a 3-1 (22-25, 25-20, 25-20, 26-24) victory Friday night at the Farris Center. She finished with a match-high 20 digs and also added a service ace, but she gave the East offense fits much of the night.
East Coach Lisa Beasley of Marion had seen Castillow before in the state tournament. She helped lead Greenwood to the Class 6A state title and earned state tournament MVP honors, too. So Beasley tried to let her players know not to serve to her. But she was everywhere on the back row, not letting the ball hit the floor and forcing East errors.
"We were like, 'keep it away from her, keep it away from her,'" said Beasley, whose team finished with just one more kill (38) than hitting error (37). "She's such a magnetic player and covers the floor so well. She just makes things happen, and she was on tonight."
It looked as though the East would push the match to a fifth and deciding set, taking a 24-22 lead thanks to a 5-0 run.
But the West scored four consecutive points aided by two East attack errors to claim the 26-24 victory.
Bentonville's Tymber Riley crushed a kill for the 24-24 tie, and Harrison's Katelynn Grant followed with a service ace for the lead. The West picked up the victory when an East attack went long.
Castillow, who will play volleyball at the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith, said the all-star setting might have been different, but she just tried to do her job.
"It's different teammates that you're surrounded with, but at the same time I think it's just volleyball," Castillow said. "And we're all volleyball players. We're just going out and playing. I just go out and pass the ball.
"I was very happy with how I played. There were a lot of standout D-1 players on my team. I wasn't expecting to get MVP. I'm just kinda out of words."
Riley finished with a match-high 10 kills. Conway's Kendahl Davenport, who will play at Missouri State, finished with a team-high nine kills and match high six blocks (two solos).
West Coach April Mattix of Harrison loved getting the chance to see Castillow up close.
"Having her at middle back, she's just like a vacuum," Mattix said. "She reads so well. I would love to have her on my court all the time."
Conway's Aryn Blumenberg earned Most Outstanding Player honors for the East, while Fountain Lake's Olivia Cox picked up that honor for the West. Blumenberg dished out 15 assists to go with 7 digs and 2 kills, while Cox contributed 7 kills, 6 digs and 4 aces.
Sports on 06/23/2018