The journey wasn’t easy. Bumps, bruises, a disappointing loss in the regional finals, and an exhausting schedule that had now reached its 40th game all came down to this moment.
Mansfield, a team of players with a strong faith in God, each other, and their championship savvy coaching staff, came to play. In Saturday night’s class 3A state volleyball championship versus Harding Academy, Mansfield was vintage Lady Tiger volleyball once again. After winning four consecutive class 2A state titles followed by a disappointing 3A tournament loss last season, Mansfield was determined to get the job done in 2025. The Lady Tigers proved the dynasty exists at any level with a fabulous 3-1 victory over highly favored Wildcats of Harding Academy for their fifth state title in the last six years.
“I’m so proud of my team!” shouted tournament MVP Kaylee Ward of Mansfield’s improbable victory for the 3A state volleyball crown won inside Hot Springs’ Bank OZK Arena on November 1. “Most of them are young besides me and Daisey (Nelson). We fought! Everybody doubted us in 3A that we couldn’t push to the end in class 3A. We proved them all wrong, and we fought and I’m so proud of my team!”
Harding, a 22 win team with perhaps the easiest path to the state finals, was exalted as the heavy favorite. In contrast, Mansfield was considered the queen of 2A ball but not a favorite to make a run for the 3A title.
What was seemingly overlooked was Mansfield’s big game experience and a roster that will not quit. As the undefeated winners of the 3A-1 conference, a league some consider one of the strongest, they were battle tested in the playoffs.
The Tigers had to regroup after a regional final loss against defending state champions Paris in the 3A North Regional just to enter this year’s state tournament. At state, they had to defeat 2024 state runner-up and tournament host Central Arkansas Christian in the first round. In the second round, they had to take down number one seeded Harrisburg - the team that ended Mansfield’s tournament in the quarterfinals last season - in the second round. Then Espiscopal, the second best team from the South Regional, proved a tremendous challenge in the semifinals for Mansfield to get the South’s number one team in Harding Academy in the finals.
“Everybody doubted us coming into this season because we had always won 2A,” said Mansfield head coach Kaylie Pyles after the game. “The girls said no, ‘We want to put a 3A (title) up there’, because that hasn’t been done since I was in school.”
Point of fact, Mansfield won their last pair of 3A state volleyball championships in 2013 and 2014. Pyles was a senior on the 2013 team coached by then head coach April Howell. Howell came back this season to the MHS program after a ten year hiatus to start a family. She served as junior high head coach and assistant senior high coach along with Brandi Heydenreich. The three championship forged coaches have been a part of Mansfield’s last seven, including Saturday's win, state volleyball titles.
“I told the girls, “Y’all go play our ballgame,’” smiled Pyles with a smirk of satisfaction on her face. “They went out and got it.”
Mansfield looked nervous to start the 3A finale. This was not a surprise with five sophomores on the floor with only veteran experienced Ward, the All-State senior, and Daisy Nelson, the senior libero, in the lineup. Juniors Whitley Boyd and Danielle Lowery were part of the regular rotation depending on front row - back row positioning and setter shifts.
Mansfield was noticeably without their top setter and second best hitter, sophomore Adeline Godwin. Godwin landed on an Episcopal player’s foot in set one of the semifinals. The extremely effective sophomore had increasingly been playing her best ball of the season when the sudden and severe ankle sprain ended her season three days short of the finals.
Ward encouraged replacements Mollee Estep, a sophomore, and Ashlynn Whittaker, a junior, who played fantastic in relief to advance the team to the finals. She also uplifted the rest of the youthful starters with resolute calm and confidence. She and Nelson took it upon themselves to calm the team’s collective nerves after a rough 4-9 first set start against the hard hitting Harding Wildcats.
“Me myself, I try to keep them as calm as I can,” shared Ward, still clutching the Player of the Game individual trophy presented to her by Arkansas Activities Association liaison Nick Lasker. “I told ‘em, ‘Hey, believe in yourself. We’re young, but we got this. We did not get here for no reason. God put us here for a reason. Trust the process that we went through to get here and believe in yourself.’”
Mansfield climbed back into the game as those early jitters began to smooth out. Soon the Lady Tigers pulled to a 10-10 tie. Three more times the score would be knotted along with 3 lead changes to establish set number one as a true championship caliber atmosphere.
Ward, Lowery and Smith would each plant 3 confirmed kills off 23 attempts in the frame. Clopton would add two first set winners off three attempts as Mansfield rallied for a huge momentum shifting 25-22 win. Bailey Quick had two aces in the series including a set one winning heater.
“We just kept telling everybody ‘Believe in yourself,’” followed Nelson as she explained how she and Ward continually reassured the younger teammates. She went on to say their message was, “If you make a mistake, just let it go. We’ve got it in the bag, just keep playing.”
Mansfield was tentative in the opener. As a defensive unit they only had 10 digs. In the second set, increased confidence powered more movement and team effort. The dig count ratcheted up by 18 in the second stanza. Kerrington Quick reached 6 digs as did Clopton. Smith had a remarkable pancake, one of many on the night, that led directly to a Ward winner leading to a 16-13 lead in the second.
Ward had reached eight kills by this point. Lowery moved to seven. In fact, the entire Tiger offense heated up as Estep and Kerrington Quick had already delivered 11 and 7 assists by the end of the second set. Mansfield would eventually take the second set with a duplicate 25-22 score after 9 ties and 6 lead changes.
“I was definitely trying to do my best today for both our seniors, and our coaches, and our teammates in general,” exhaled a tired but exuberant Lowery after the game. “We’re all extremely happy right now, and I know our seniors are very, very happy.
“I don’t really cry over many things, but I actually did cry over this,” explained the junior middle, who was visibly overwhelmed at the dramatic victory her team just had in front of a large Mansfield congregation there to witness another historic MHS accomplishment. “We just have to give all the glory to God for all our talents.”
Mansfield cooled off in the third. Meanwhile, Wildcats’ Brynlee Reeves and Elle Morgan went wild swinging away with much more determination. Mostly finding sets off the fingertips of Kennedy Lovin, the two strikers hit a higher gear bringing their kill total to 24 between them.
Reeves, just a sophomore, reached a hitting percentage of .348 by the end of the third. Morgan, a senior, hit at a rate of .258 with 31 total attempts through three. Harding would take the set 25-13.
Clopton, who played phenomenally in the finals, was good on both sides of the ball. The tenth grade outside hitter produced 12 kills on 23 attempts for an outstanding .478 hitting percentage. She also had a team high 32 receptions and 20 digs. She admitted the third set simply served as motivation for her to get the job done.
“I knew this was our chance,” offered Clopton about the upcoming fourth set after Harding rallied with a giant gut punch in the third. “We just had to beat them! We got those first two in the beginning and then we lost that third one. I was like, ‘We are not going to a fifth set. We are beating this team right here!’”
That’s exactly what Mansfield did. A scary close extended fourth set saw Mansfield escape with a 26-24 decision one day after Halloween. Nine times the score would be tied in the fourth. Four times the lead would change hands.
Harding made a surge in what would be the final set. It came at the expense of two early timeouts.
Mansfield’s Coach Pyles kept her last timeout in pocket until just the right moment. That moment came as Harding made some monster saves and ambitious plays to take a one point lead at 24-23.
Mansfield forced a Harding mistake after the timeout to regain service at 24-24. The Tigers’ Bailey Quick responded with a tightrope serve over the net. A nervously played Harding pass and set led to a Wildcat mis-hit into the net.
Now 25-24, Mansfield’s advantage, Quick blasted another serve into play. Harding served-received without trouble this time setting the ball into a well executed attack. In swooped Mansfield action hero and tournament MVP, Kaylee Ward.
Single handedly, Ward threw up a powerful block stunting the hard hit hovering it above the net. The 6’4” Tiger senior sprung right back into action to swat the ball left handed, no less, for the 26-24 match winning point.
Pandemonium ensued as Mansfield players cleared the bench in an elated dog pile.
“We played so hard!” Ward emphasized after the game. “Everybody doubted us. It felt great getting this win! I’m so proud of this team.”
Coach Pyles chimed in as well. “It feels so good to win 3A,” she said. “It proved to people that we can win at any level.
“Don’t doubt us, because you doubting us fueled us. We’ll play, and we’ll fight, and that’s what we do. This team is so young, but we fought through a lot of adversity and injuries. We came through and it feels so great!”
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