Brookland knocked off Shiloh Christian in four sets to end the Lady Saints' quest for a second straight 4A state title.
All four matches of the quarterfinals were closely contested. The Lady Saints (25-14) won the first set 28-26 before the Lady Bearcats (24-9-1) stormed back to win the final three sets 25-23, 29-27, 25-20. Brookland plays Mena at 3 p.m. today in the semifinals in Lonoke.
"They all were very close (sets)," said Shiloh Christian coach Nathan Bodenstein. "The official came up to me afterward and said 'Wow, that should have been the state finals. That was the state finals.' I could agree. I don't want to take away from anyone else because there are a lot of good teams that worked hard to get here, but that was two very good teams going at it."
Lady Saints senior Haley Richards had four aces, six solo blocks and 18 kills while sophomore Lexi Richards had a team-high 21 kills and 19 digs. Senior Hannah Smithson had 41 assists and 18 digs. Taylor Larson had 19 digs, Sarah Rountree had 13 digs and Alex Bottorf had 12 digs.
"It was just a game of different runs, and that's volleyball, typically," Bodenstein said. "We got the first set and were up like 13-6 in the third set, but let them crawl back into it and we ended up dripping it. That was a big momentum change -- losing a big lead like that.
"We didn't look like ourselves until about the third set."
Huntsville is the only 4A-Northwest team left standing. The Lady Eagles defeated Central Arkansas Christian 25-16, 25-21, 25-15 on Wednesday after beating Fountain Lake 25-10, 22-25, 25-23, 25-20 on Tuesday.
Huntsville, the No. 3 seed from the Northwest, plays Westside, the top seed from the Northwest, in the state semifinals at 1 p.m. today. Westside eliminated Berryville 25-18, 21-25, 25-20, 25-18 on Wednesday.
"We want to congratulate Huntsville on their first semifinal ever," Bodenstein said. "They all showed up to give us a giant cheering section, so we're going to stay around for their match (today) to cheer them on."
Sports on 10/27/2016