Phelan leads Fayetteville to sweep of Bentonville

Kennedy Phelan (4) and Sophie Snodgrass (10) of Fayetteville go up for block against Maddie Lee of Bentonville during Thursday’s 6A-West Conference matchup at Tiger Arena in Bentonville. Phelan, a Florida State commit, had 10 aces and 36 assists as the Lady Bulldogs won 25-13, 25-19, 25-8. More photos at
arkansasonline.com/108fhsbhs/
(Special to the NWA Democrat-Gazette/David Beach)
Kennedy Phelan (4) and Sophie Snodgrass (10) of Fayetteville go up for block against Maddie Lee of Bentonville during Thursday’s 6A-West Conference matchup at Tiger Arena in Bentonville. Phelan, a Florida State commit, had 10 aces and 36 assists as the Lady Bulldogs won 25-13, 25-19, 25-8. More photos at arkansasonline.com/108fhsbhs/ (Special to the NWA Democrat-Gazette/David Beach)

BENTONVILLE -- Fayetteville served up a 25-13, 25-19, 25-8 sweep of Bentonville High at Tiger Arena on Thursday evening to stay one game behind 6A-West Conference leading Springdale Har-Ber.

Junior Kennedy Phelan led the onslaught from the service line with 10 aces as Fayetteville to keep Bentonville out of rhythm much of the night.

The Lady Purple'Dogs (27-3, 10-1 6A-West) never trailed in the opening set. But they had to fend off a late rally in the second set, scoring five of the last six points to take the second set. Bentonville scored the first two points in the third set, but the rest was all Fayetteville.

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Fayetteville coach Jessica Phelan was pleased with her team's overall performance with conference play winding down. She especially liked the strong play from the service line.

"On the whole, I thought it was good clean volleyball on our side of the net tonight," Phelan said. "They had that little run at the end of set two, but we came back and responded.

"That's something we were working on to upgrade our service game and put a little more pressure on teams and keep them out of system. It's nice to see that upgrade and we're a pretty good side-out team but we want to score a little higher percentage when we have the ball."

Kennedy Phelan, a Florida State commit, registered an unorthodox double-double with 36 assists to go with her 10 aces. She finished with a flourish with aces on three of the final five points of the match.

Brooke Rockwell led the Fayetteville attack with 13 kills, while Maddie LaFata added eight and Regan Harp six. Ashley Ruff also led the defense with eight digs and two aces.

[GALLERY: Click here for more photos » arkansasonline.com/108fhsbhs/]

Phelan said her team responded well this week with a pair of conference sweeps, after going 5-1 in a talent-laden tournament in Blue Springs, Mo., on Saturday. Fayetteville avenged an earlier loss to Class 4A state runner-up Nixa, Mo., but lost in the finals in three sets to Liberty (Mo.) North, the defending state champion in the largest classification in Missouri.

"We played some really great teams on Saturday," Phelan said. "We played a lot of volleyball and there was no let-up. I think it was really good for the growth of our team to be put in some challenging situations.

"You do worry about that letdown if you're tired. But on the whole, I think they took care of business and played some great volleyball this week."

Trinity Hamilton led Bentonville (13-13, 5-6) with seven kills and seven digs. Lily Thompson had a team-best nine digs and Katelyn Simpson dished out 15 assists.

Springdale Har-Ber 3, Bentonville West 0

The Lady Wildcats used a balanced attack to remain undefeated and atop the 6A-West Conference by sweeping the Lady Wolverines 25-16, 25-11, 25-11.

Kyla Clubb and Kinleigh Hall led the way with 12 kills each, while Jordan Benford added 10 kills for Har-Ber (24-0, 11-0 6A-West). Hall hit an incredible .688 with 12 kills with just one error in 16 swings.

Setter Caylan Koons dished out 29 assists and added nine digs. Josie McCroskey added a team-high 11 digs.

Rogers High 3, Springdale High 0

The Lady Mounties climbed into fourth place in the 6A-West with a 25-12, 25-6, 25-17 win over the Lady Bulldogs.

Abby Harris enjoyed a solid all-around match with eight kills, 10 assists, seven digs along with two blocks and two aces. Ryley Martin chipped in seven kills, six digs and an aces for the Lady Mounties (16-10-6, 6-5).

Shiloh Christian 3, Berryville 0

The Lady Saints improved to 14-0 in the 4A-Northwest Conference with a 25-11, 25-6, 25-10 win over Berryville.

Ryan Russell led the way with 10 kills, while Madelyn Sestak added nine kills for Shiloh Christian (21-3-3, 14-0). Laila Creighton also dished out 27 assists and added five aces.

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6A-West Volleyball

Team;Conf.;Overall

Springdale Har-Ber 24-0 11-0

Fayetteville 27-3; 10-1

FS Southside 18-8-3 7-4

Rogers 16-10-6 6-5

Bentonville 13-13 5-6

Bentonville West 9-18 3-8

Springdale 9-12-2 2-9

Rogers Heritage 2-18 0-11

Thursday’s Scores

Fort Smith Southside def. Rogers Heritage, 3-0.

Rogers High def. Springdale High, 3-0.

Fayetteville def. Bentonville High, 3-0.

Springdale Har-Ber def. Bentonville West, 3-0.

Brooke Rockwell (right) of Fayetteville spikes the ball. Rockwell had 13 kills.
(Special to the NWA Democrat-Gazette/David Beach)
Brooke Rockwell (right) of Fayetteville spikes the ball. Rockwell had 13 kills. (Special to the NWA Democrat-Gazette/David Beach)

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