Fresh off an invitational tournament championship at Prairie Grove, Mansfield volleyball continued its winning ways with a conference win against Thaden on September 30.
According to SBLive, the official resource for Arkansas high school athletics, Mansfield sits atop the 3A-1 conference standings and hovers inside the top five schools in the overall class 3A state rankings. This most recent home victory over Thaden puts the Lady Tigers with a 11-0 conference record and an 18-4 overall slate. With only three conference games left, Mansfield is assured the conference round-robin crown and the number one seed in the 3A-1 District Tournament scheduled for mid October.
“We played really well Saturday to win the Prairie Grove Tournament,” announced Mansfield head coach Kaylie Pyles. “We do better when we play a lot of games and stay busy. We had Sunday and Monday off - might have had a little let down against Thaden, but still came away with the win.”
The Tigers’ head coach may have been nitpicking with the way her team played against the Thaden Barnstormers. After all, MHS won the match 3-0 with set victories of 25-18, 25-13 and 25-23. With the bigger picture of state titles generally on her mind, the coach admits she finds it difficult accepting anything less than excellence against any opponent.
Pyles confessed she called a timeout in the third set to remind her players of that strive for excellence. In the highly competitive third frame, the Barnstormers led most of the way. Mansfield’s head coach felt the need to pump the brakes and give her troops a dose of reality.
“We are down right now and shouldn’t be,” Pyles offered what words she used during the critical third set timeout. “We need to take each game one at a time regardless of who the opponent is. We are looking towards the postseason and how we should be playing then. We need to focus on the task at hand and not relax.”
Pyles’ perspective as coach gives her a unique insight to the on-court habits of her team. “I feel like when we’ve beaten someone already,” she expounded, “we have a tendency to relax - not play up to our full potential. When the count gets to 2-0, it’s natural for the team in the lead to relax and for the team that’s behind to try even harder.”
Give credit to the Barnstormers for digging down looking for another gear to combat Mansfield’s front line force. In the third set, the tendencies that Pyles proclaimed sometimes happen - did.
Thaden climbed to a quick 4-0 lead before an unforced service error gave Mansfield a point and the serve. Abby Smith, the Lady Tiger’s right side hitter, promptly dialed up a serve that Thaden had a tough time handling. With the free ball that came back across the net, MHS middle Kaylee Ward hammered home giving Mansfield momentum.
From there, Mansfield made a mini run to knot the score at 4-4. Thaden responded by keeping a slight edge by one or two points for much of the third.
Ties occurred at 16, 17 and 18 points. The outcome during this stretch was still in question. Then Danielle Lowery got a set to the right side and swung hard for a pulsating kill to take the lead at 19-18. Ward cashed in another winner with a fabulous tip as she swung right to left across her body for a point drop near the pole boundary. Suddenly, the Tigers stood on top of the Barnstormers 20-18.
Mansfield pulled the door near closed when Adeline Godwin put up a service ace. Thaden stubbed their toe trying to stop the complete closure. The Barnstormers committed a hitting error and got caught with a double hit violation to end the set and the match.
Godwin played well on offense offering up several assists along with three aces. Ward was the recipient of most of those sets and the stand out player of the game. The savvy senior pounded the ball hard down the middle, tipped when the double block indicated, and soft touched an occasional two handed push to the corner when the defense was out of position.
Lowery rejected several Barnstormer attacks with well timed blocks, and had some nice kills through the offense. Kerrington Quick was good as a ball dispenser and kept service for 7 Mansfield points including an ace. Her cousin Bailey Quick also had an ace and was smart along the back row reading Thaden hits towards the baseline.
Tiger sophomore Miley Clopton was solid from the left side, as a back row defender, and as a server. Through her service rotation, Mansfield tallied 5 points. Smith put up 6 service points and had a sparkling cross court kill off a Godwin back set to finish the first set.
Junior Tiger Whitley Boyd continued solid minutes from the right side. Senior Daisy Nelson rotated through as Mansfield’s libero. THe senior kept the passes on time and on target for attack transitions.
Mansfield also had good results from the early game in the junior girls division. The junior Tigers kept pace for the conference crown with a nice win against Thaden. The MHS prep squad took down the younger Barnstormers 2-0 with set counts of 25-10 and 25-17.
The MHS junior girls received a spark in the first set with the score tied at 18-18 when Thaden faulted on a serve. Mansfield middle Vivionna Sylva then powered a kill followed by a Bentley Hoover ace to give the Tigers a quick three point surge. The set ended just a few rallies later when Tiger outside hitter Allie Hattabaugh made a highlight kill for the 25th point.
Mansfield kept the momentum in the second set. Seventh graders Ava Elmore and Kinlee Winters were steady. Likewise, solid play was seen from freshmen Ellah Heydenreich and Lillianna Porter to dismiss the conference contender.
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