SOUTHSIDE MAVS UNABLE TO FLIP NLR MOMENTUM

Southside volleyball coach Steve Haaser felt pretty good after Thursday’s first set with North Little Rock. Apparently his players felt pretty good, too. North Little Rock, sluggish and sloppy in the first set, roared back for a 13-25, 25-17, 25-17, 25-22 victory at Southside Gym — North Little Rock’s fourth straight win over the Mavericks. Southside (5-5, 1-2) travels to Bryant on Tuesday. “That first game was very misleading,” Haaser said. “North Little Rock didn’t look very good, and it sort of lulled our girls into a false sense of security, where they thought they had it. “But hats off to them, they (NLR) played really good.” The Charging Wildcats (9-2, 2-1) rebounded following Tuesday’s 3-0 loss to Conway in a big way. But it didn’t look good early. The Mavs turned a tight 9-8 lead into a 21-10 blowout in a span of a few minutes. North Little Rock struggled with service errors, hitting errors and miscommunication. But once they grabbed the momentum, it was hard for Southside to slow them down. Senior Jada Bailey led the winners with 16 kills, and freshman Jada Lawson asserted herself with 11 kills. Southside appeared to be on its way early in the second game. Hannah Holland’s smash gave the Mavericks a 7-4 lead. But NLR ran off 10 straight points for an 18-8 lead and, try as they might, Southside failed to lead at any point after that until they briefly led 4-3 in the fourth game. “The next three games, they just never let us get back in it,” Haaser said. “We clawed and fought, but they never let us back in it.” Emily Bass, who had five kills in a late push in the fourth game, led the Mavs with 17 kills. Bass finished with 20 digs for her fourth double-double of the season. Holland had 16 kills and Sage Rankin added five kills. Jenna Mullins had 28 assists and 15 digs, and Hailey Hogue finished with 26 digs for the Mavericks. Also, Sarah Tolbert had 11 digs and 11 assists, and Montana Smith had 16 digs. “Going into tonight I thought we were making improvements,” Haaser said. “We have a lot of improvements we have to make. We’ve got to get some more offense, but we’ve got to get better in all areas.”

SOUTHSIDE MAVS UNABLE TO FLIP NLR MOMENTUM

Photo Credit: Brian Sanderford

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