Arkansas High kept pace with Magnolia for a while in all three sets, but the Lady Panthers took advantage of some Lady Back miscues to sweep the 6A/5A-South volleyball match, 25-17, 25-22, 25-14, Tuesday at Razorback Gym.
The Lady Backs fell into a lull early in the first set, giving up a 10-2 rally to Magnolia, had a 22-21 lead in Set 2, and were in the third set before a 7-0 rally turned into a 10-1 streak for the visitors.
"We committed errors (to give the momentum to Magnolia)," Arkansas High coach Kelsey Jackson said. "We come out late, and we've got to show up as soon as the game starts and not fight our way back. We just had too many errors; we can't dig ourselves into a hole and expect to get out of it on the 20th point."
AHS trailed 8-7 in the opener when Magnolia (6-2 conference) took advantage of three unforced errors to go up 11-7. After four sideouts, Moore had back-to-back kills and a block to spark a 5-point rally. She answered AHS' consecutive points with another kill and an ace, and the teams traded points down the stretch.
In the second set, the Lady Backs (3-4 conference) got on track and rallied for the lead late. AHS was down 19-15 before Makenna Ivy served a 5-0 streak to give Arkansas High a 20-19 advantage. After five consecutive sideouts were exchanged, Arkansas held a 22-21 lead but a trio of serve-receive errors by the home team gave Magnolia a 2-0 lead in the match.
The third set mirrored the first, with Arkansas High tying the match at 6-all and pulling within one at 12-11. The Panthers pulled away with a 7-point run with Whaley serving, and the Lady Backs never recovered.
Brooklyn Brewer led Arkansas High with six kills, three blocks and five points, and Megan Holder contributed five blocks, a pair of kills and three digs for AHS. Tatiyana Johnson had 17 digs, Tierra Holliman added 10 assists and six digs, Ivy served seven points and had five digs, and Adison Wright chipped in with eight digs.
Katherine Pletcher had six digs for Magnolia, Taylor Yates added 14 assists, and Kaleigh Sneed 12 assists and five kills. Jaci Powell had 12 service points.
Magnolia won the junior varsity match, 25-23, 25-21, with Chassidy Jermany leading the Panthers with six points. Jasmine Simmons had five winners for the Lady Backs, Holder added two points and an ace, and Erin Wherry had 11 digs.