Coverage presented by Arkansas Select Volleyball.
HOT SPRINGS — The Conway Lady Cats earned the Class 6A state championship the hard way.
Conway (30-5) overcame deficits of 18-12 in the third set and 17-12 in the fourth set to beat Fayetteville (25-6) 25-23, 24-26, 25-23, 25-21 for their second consecutive state championship and fourth overall.
In the third set, the Lady Cats were down 18-12 before closing it to 18-15 on kills by Sylvia King and Anna Smith and an attack that went wide by Fayetteville’s Isabella Street. Fayetteville pushed it to 21-17 on kills by Piper Batie and Molly Miller before a kill by Conway’s Wren Jones and a Fayetteville player going into the net closed it to 21-19. Fayetteville pushed it to 23-21 on two Conway errors before a block by Jones and King and a dig attempt that went out of bounds by Fayetteville tied the match at 23-23.
King and Smith had kills to end the match 25-23.
The Lady Cats took advantage of a missed call by the officials when a Fayetteville attack hit the floor and ultimately resulted in point for Conway. Neither Conway head coach Laura Crow nor Fayetteville head coach Jessica Phelan commented on it.
In the fourth set, down 17-13, Jones had two kills and a block attempt by Fayetteville which went out of bounds closed it to 17-15. Down 20-18, King had two kills to the set at 20-20, which was the first tie since 7-7. Smith put Conway ahead 21-20 with a kill, Jones followed with another kill, King had an ace and Sellars had another kill to make it 24-20. After King’s attack went long to close it to 24-21, Smith had a kill to end the set at 25-21.
Coming back was something Conway head coach Laura Crow said her team is used to doing, although she admits, it is frustrating to find herself in those situations.
“We’ve done that all year long and what frustrates me is we’re constantly trying to pull ourselves out of it,” said Crow. “I feel like just reminding them of the things and focusing on serve-receive. We got to get our serve-receive so we have three options. They wanted it, so did Fayetteville, I don’t want to take anything from them.”
Fayetteville head coach Jessica Phelan, who was going for her ninth state title and fifth in the past six years, said, “I think it was good volleyball on both sides. Conway is a senior laden team stayed aggressive and kept taking our best shot and sometimes you need something to roll your way and you take advantage of it.”
Conway won the first set that featured seven ties and three lead changes. Fayetteville won the second set, overcoming a 19-14 deficit and holding off set point by Conway when Kenzy Hogue had a kill to tie it at 24-24. Wren Jones was blocked and Hogue had another kill to end the match at 26-24.
Conway was led by Jones, who was named MVP of the state tournament with 25 kills and 14 digs.
“Wren has a fast arm swing and is hard to defend,” said Crow. “We’ve worked a lot with Wren on mixing up here shots and not trying to swing at everything. I’m proud of the way she’s played defense.”
King had 13 kills and 6 digs. Smith and 12 kills and 4 digs. London Cabantac had 41 assists.
Fayetteville was led by Batie, a Missouri commitment, who had 13 kills and 9 digs. Hogue had 10 kills and 3 digs. Molly Miller had 20 assists.
Crow, whose team finished second in the 6A-Central for the first time since 2019, was proud of the fact her team came together at the right time.
“This feels unreal,” said Crow. “I feel like I can’t believe we just did it. Hats off to our kids who rallied at the end of October to make this happen. We have a great support system.
“That’s okay, sometimes it’s good not have the attention on you. I reminded them of the 2018 team when we were the No. 2 seed and (Fort Smith) Southside was in our conference and we beat them in the finals. What you do when the big lights come on is what matters.”
Phelan saw her team lose her first state title since 2014 when Bentonville defeated them 3-1, but was proud of the fact here team got to Hot Springs.
“As a coach you want your kids to put it all out there, we told them how proud we are of them,” said Phelan. “For the whole season, they responded to losses really well and have been a joy to coach.
“To be one of the 10 teams here, I’m proud of that.”
Cover photo courtesy of Conway Public Schools
