FAYETTEVILLE -- Bentonville put together a great defensive effort, but Fayetteville settled down and pulled out a 21-25, 25-14, 25-18, 25-13 6A-West Conference win Thursday night.
The Lady Purple Bulldogs (14-1, 9-1) bounced back after their first loss of the season and did it without starting outside hitter Perry Flannigan, who is out with an injury for an undetermined period right now, Fayetteville coach Jessica Phelan said.
Rosana Hicks put down a match-high 24 kills and Brooke Rockwell added 15. Setter Kennedy Phelan ran an efficient offense, racking up 50 assists.
Gracyn Spresser led the Fayetteville defense with 22 digs and Ashley Ruff added 12.
Phelan said her team settled down after the opening set. She praised the work of sophomore libero Ashley Ruff, lifting her team throughout the match in terms of energy and communication.
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"I think that Bentonville played fantastic defense," Phelan said. "They put a lot of pressure on us in terms of extending rallies and emotionally had some big points go their way. Sometimes you've gotta shake that off and that's easier said than done. I think we did a better job with communication and energy throughout the rest of the match.
"I thought Ashley did a great job with her energy and helping everyone with their communication. She's always talking to the hitters. From this point forward, there's not much time left. We want to come back ready to go and focused next week."
Bentonville (8-5, 3-5) put up a fight throughout, which pleased Lady Tigers coach Michelle Smith.
"The fight now matter what the score was, a coach couldn't ask for more," Smith said. "It didn't matter what the score was tonight, those girls gave us 100 percent, very proud of them.
"That's our goal every time we play a team our goal is to improve. Some of our young ones are maturing and trusting the process and it's showing.
The Lady Tigers, who lost in three sets to Fayetteville earlier, put together a huge 11-1 run to turn a 16-12 deficit into a 23-17 advantage en route to winning the opening set. Lefty Reagan Tunnell had a couple of aces in the run and Hamilton had two kills as Bentonville found holes in the Fayetteville defense.
But Fayetteville stayed in control most of the final three sets to rebound from its first loss of the season.
Hamilton led Bentonville with 12 kills and 12 digs, while Tunnell added eight kills and three aces. Jamie Myrick finished with an incredible match-high 42 digs.
Fort Smith Southside 3, Rogers Heritage 0
Avery Fitzgerald hammered 13 kills and served up seven aces to lead the Mavericks to a 25-11, 25-19, 25-12 win over the Lady War Eagles.
Aleigha Johnson added 10 kills and two blocks, while Hannah Hogue enjoyed a nice match with 28 assists, 12 digs and two blocks. Toree Tiffee added eight kills and Tinsley Freeman chipped in 10 digs.
Springdale Har-Ber 3, Bentonville West 0
The Lady Wildcats earned a 25-7, 25-14, 25-21 6A-West Conference win over the Lady Wolverines in their first match in almost a month.
Har-Ber's last match was a sweep of crosstown rival Springdale High on Sept. 10. The Lady Wildcats were out for two weeks because of covid-19 issues, then missed matches during the last three-plus weeks when opposing teams were also having problems with covid-19.
Kyla Clubb led Har-Ber with 14 kills, while Kat Cooper added nine. Caylan Koons dished out 21 assists.
Shiloh Christian 3, Berryville 2
The Lady Saints clinched the regular-season 4A-Northwest Conference championship with a tough 25-16, 13-25, 22-25, 25-22, 15-12 win.
Emerson Traweek led the way with 12 kills and 21 digs, while Ryan Russell added 13 kills and Rylee Odell 10 for Shiloh Christian (16-2, 14-0), which also secured the top seed in the conference tournament with it will host.
Katelyn Simpson contributed 26 assists and 17 digs, while Ryli Russ also added 17 digs for the Lady Saints.
Greenwood 3-3, Vilonia 0-0
The Lady Bulldogs swept an unusual 5A-West volleyball doubleheader from Vilonia, winning 25-10, 25-8, 25-4 in the opener and 25-8, 25-15, 25-18 in the nightcap.
Hannah Watkins led the offense with 11 kills in each match and four blocks combined in the two for Greenwood (13-1, 10-0 5A-West). Myia McCoy added nine kills, while Larkin Luke added four kills, eight aces and a solo block in the first match. Luke contributed six kills, three aces, a block and two digs in the second match.
Paul Boyd can be reached at pboyd@nwadg.com or on Twitter @NWAPaulb.