The Natural State Sports Network’s Arkansas High School volleyball rankings saw a number of changes this week.
Shiloh Christian, after winning the Lakeside MTXE Tournament, moves from No. 7 to No. 4. That moves Hackett, which beat Shiloh Christian 3-1 on Sept. 16 from No. 6 to No. 3. Brookland, which entered the week No. 11, moves to No. 6 after beating No. 2 Benton on Monday. Bryant, which was ranked No. 20, moves to No. 12 after a 3-2 victory over No. 4 Conway. Cabot, which was unranked, moves to No. 9 after finishing runner-up at the Lakeside Tournament. Farmington goes from unranked to No. 18.
On the flip side, Benton falls from No. 2 to No. 7, Conway falls from No. 4 to No. 8; Valley View, with three defeats on the week, falls from No. 10 to No. 15. Little Rock Christian, which was ranked 18th and Bentonville, which was 13th, fall from the rankings after suffering two defeats.
Presented by Arkansas Select Volleyball.
1. FORT SMITH SOUTHSIDE (11-3)
Previous rank: No. 1
Light week, but the Lady Mavericks take care of business vs. Rogers. Big week ahead with matches against No. 13 Springdale Har-Ber, Bentonville and matches vs. Siloam Springs and Ozark in the Fort Smith Invitational.
2. FAYETTEVILLE (12-3)
Previous rank: No. 3
The Lady Bulldogs were taken to the limit by No. 21 Fort Smith Northside and wins the final set 15-12.
“Our conference is so deep and balanced. Northside is a strong team and gave us fits. I’m proud of our crew for making plays in set five and finishing the win.” — Fayetteville head coach Jessica Phelan
3. HACKETT (19-0)
Previous rank: No. 6
Lady Hornets emptied the bench in a 3-0 victory over Mulberry which featured scores of 25-5, 25-3 and 25-4. Junior Michaelyn Freeman had 19 kills, 10 digs, 1 block and 1 ace in a 3-0 victory over Mena.
4. SHILOH CHRISTIAN (18-2-1)
Previous rank: No. 7
Lady Saints go 5-0-1 in capturing the Lakeside MTXE Tournament which featured a 2-0 victory over No. 11 Brookland, which beat them the past two years for the Class 4A state title and a 2-0 victory over Cabot for the championship.
“Brookland was a sweet game for us because we had not had much success with them the past couple years. Our girls tasted that defeat and I was proud of them for being steady and not over emotional and to stay focused, then to come in and beat Cabot. I’m really proud of how focused we were and we served very well to get them out of system. They do a good job of acclimating to each team. I was proud of how we picked up on each team very quickly.” — Shiloh Christian head coach Nathan Bodenstein on winning the Hot Springs Lakeside Tournament.
5. LITTLE ROCK CENTRAL (14-2-1)
Previous rank: No. 5
Leah Chavis had 10 digs in a 3-0 victory over Mount St. Mary, while Kelis Battles had 10 kills and hit .300 and Jaxon Jersey had 8 and hit .424. The Lady Tigers added conference victories over Little Rock Southwest and Jonesboro.
6. BROOKLAND (18-3)
Previous rank: No. 11
Lady Bearcats avenge losses the last two years to Benton with a 5-set victory and fall to No. 7 Shiloh Christian, the team it defeated the past two years in the Class 4A state tournament in the Hot Springs Lakeside Tournament semifinals.
“It was obvious we weren’t as ready to play as they were, it is what it is. It’s been a long week and a good week. I don’t think one game defines you as a tournament here and there. They played great and we didn’t play great. We put it in perspective and keep doing the same thing we’ve been doing. That wasn’t the team that played Benton on Monday.” — Brookland head coach Nancy Rodriguez after losing to Shiloh Christian.
7. BENTON (15-3-1)
Previous rank: No. 2
Lady Panthers open the week with a 5-set loss to No. 11 Brookland before beating White Hall and Hot Springs in 5A-South Conference play.
“I don’t like coming out on the short end. They were very worthy of winning. Every time they called timeout, they went back to the middle and got a kill out of it, if they didn’t, it was almost every time. They didn’t let up. They kept hammering us with blocks so we couldn’t get a lot of tips. We needed a couple more kills here and there and we weren’t able to get that taken care of. We’ve need to realize it’s a team thing and rally among ourselves in order to get the ball and finish the points. We’re going to make some rotation changes and see if that helps us be a little stronger. Our losses are to teams in the top 10 and we’re not backing away from anybody.” — Benton head coach Michelle Shoppach on the loss to Brookland.
8. CONWAY (15-7)
Previous rank: No. 4
Conway’s streak of 45 consecutive victories inside the 6A-Central comes to an end with a 3-2 loss to No. 20 Bryant.
“We knew it would be a tough match tonight against Bryant at their place and they came out playing extremely well. I was proud of our girls for not giving up and fighting for sets three and four. We let them jump out on us in the fifth set and offensively we struggled. We will be back in the gym working hard tomorrow (Friday) trying to improve on some things we struggled with this evening.” — Conway head coach Laura Crow after losing to Bryant
9. CABOT (13-7)
Previous rank: Not ranked
Lady Panthers go 5-1 at the Hot Springs Lakeside Tournament with victories over No. 10 Vally View, Beebe, Harrison, Marion and No. 9 Mena before losing to No. 7 Shiloh Christian 2-0 in the finals.
“That’s a very good team. We ran out of juice a little bit. Our last match was a little closer in a hot gym and that took a little out of us. Shiloh is a good team and it makes you better playing teams like that. I feel like we’ve made some improvement. We feel we have a lot of potential. When we get momentum, we feel we’re unstoppable.” — Cabot head coach Anna Robertson.
10. BAPTIST PREP (20-4-1)
Previous rank: No. 8
Lady Eagles keep the wins coming with sweeps of LISA Academy West and Joe T. Robinson
11. MARION (17-4-1)
Previous rank: No. 9
Lady Patriots, playing without middle blocker Kennedy Bullins (achilles injury), tied Shiloh Christian in pool play at Hot Springs Lakeside Tournament and lost to Cabot in semifinals. They also had victories over Sylvan Hills, Lake Hamilton and Wynne.
12. BRYANT (11-6-1)
Previous rank: No. 20
Lady Hornets get their biggest win of the season with a 3-2 victory over No. 4 Conway.
“It was a great match. We fought hard for the first two-and-a-half sets. We lost focus and then started to fight again in the fifth set. Conway is a great team and it was a nice win for our program.” — Bryant head coach Leigh Ann Back
13. SPRINGDALE HAR-BER (13-7)
Previous rank: No. 12
Lady Wildcats notch a pair of 6A-West victories over Bentonville West in four games and Rogers Heritage in three. Macon Butler had 19 kills vs. Rogers Heritage while Reece Erickson had 10 digs.
14. PRAIRIE GROVE (14-1-1)
Previous rank: No. 14
Lady Tigers notch pair of 4A-West Conference victories by beating Elkins in four game and Gentry in three games.
15. VALLEY VIEW (13-7-1)
Previous rank: No. 10
Margie McGee’s team in a rare slump with three losses: Batesville and Cabot, then Brookland at the Hot Springs Lakeside Tournament during the week. They also had victories over Harrison and Beebe on Saturday.
“Brookland played well against our hitters and we needed some different shot selections to keep them off their game. They blocked a few balls and got some momentum going. They found a couple balls to get down. We finished up strong in pool play. We played our style of volleyball with a lot of high energy. It’s frustrating when it’s a good game that goes back and forth in the gold bracket and you think you’re in it and gets away from you. Our message is to keep doing the fundamentals well.” — Valley View head coach Margie McGee
16. MOUNT ST. MARY (14-6)
Previous rank: No. 15
Belles overcome sweep to No. 5 Little Rock Central with 5A-Central victories over Beebe and Maumelle.
17. GREENBRIER (12-7)
Previous rank: No. 16
Lady Panthers earn a season sweep of Little Rock Christian and sweep Jacksonville in 5A-Central action before falling five sets to Greenwood and sweeping Paris at a tri-match in Greenwood.
18. FARMINGTON (8-3)
Previous rank: Not ranked
Lady Cardinals have won five in a row and have their biggest week of the season when they host No. 4 Shiloh Christian on Tuesday and head to the Fort Smith Invitational where they will play Bentonville West, No. 23 Pottsville and Rogers Heritage.
19. PARIS (16-4)
Previous rank: No. 17
Lady Eagles open the week with a 5-set victory over Conway Christian before suffering a pair of sweeps to 5A schools Greenwood and Greenbrier in Saturday’s tri-match in Greenwood.
20. FORT SMITH NORTHSIDE (10-6)
Previous rank: No. 21
Lady Bears sweep Rogers Heritage and take No. 3 Fayetteville to the wire, falling in five sets.
“I was extremely happy to see my kids battle so tough on the road against a strong Fayetteville team. I think we are coming out of our road slump and finding our best volleyball.” — Fort Smith Northside head coach Matthew Waack
21. MANSFIELD (11-4-2)
Previous rank: No. 24
Lady Tigers needed five sets to beat Pottsville, four sets to beat Elkins and five to beat Lavaca, which gives them the tiebreaker in race for the 3A-1 Conference title. Kaylee Ward had 35 kills, 17 digs, 7 blocks and 2 aces against Lavaca.
22. HARDING ACADEMY (11-3)
Previous rank: No. 19
Lady Wildcats go out of conference and suffer a 4-set loss to Wynne, then fell in five games to Episcopal Collegiate in 3A-4 Conference play before beating LISA Academy North.
23. POTTSVILLE (14-7-1)
Previous rank: No. 22
Lady Apaches split a pair of five-set matches, falling to No. 24 Mansfield and beating Ozark in 4A-2 Conference play, then getting a sweep of Heber Springs.
24. GRAVETTE (10-5)
Previous rank: No. 23
Lady Lions get two 4A-1 Conference victories over Berryville and Green Forest as Ella Pinches had 29 kills and 33 digs in both matches.
25. CONWAY ST. JOSEPH (11-4)
Previous rank: No. 25
Lady Bulldogs sweep Scott Charter, Cutter Morning Star and Mountain Pine.
DROPPED OUT
No. 13 Bentonville, No. 18 Little Rock Christian Academy
