Lady Bulldogs hang tough in comeback win against Rogers
Posted on Friday, October 10, 2008
SARAH NADER Benton County Daily Record Fayetteville junior Haley Martin (3 ) kills the ball past Rogers ’ Amanda Gilchrist (10 ) and Chelsea Anderson during play Thursday at Rogers High School.
ROGERS - Jessica Phelan was just waiting for a big 7 A-West Conference match to go her team's way.
The Fayetteville Lady Bulldogs finally got it Thursday, escaping W. E. King Arena with a backand-forth, five-game victory against Rogers.
The Lady Bulldogs, who were winless against the league's top four teams - Bentonville, Fort Smith Southside, Rogers and Har-Ber - until Thursday, rallied to win the third and fifth sets.
"We've lost some close matches this year and you just got the feeling that my kids are working hard and eventually one of them is going to go our way," Phelan said. "Gosh, we needed this one tonight just from a confidence standpoint."
The Lady Mounties (16-8, 7-4 in 7 A-West ) held off Fayetteville in Game 4 to force the deciding game - which was also back and forth.
Rogers senior Melissa Clement, who led her team with 16 kills, had a tip to tie the match at 5 and an ace to tie it at 8. Back-to-back kills from senior Amanda Gilchrist and a kill from senior Chelsea Anderson gave Rogers an 11-9 lead but Fayetteville regained the lead again.
But three straight Lady Bulldog errors left Rogers serving for match point.
Fayetteville junior Haley Martin, who finished with 23 kills, then tied it with back-to-back winners, including a shot that slipped across the net. A Rogers error gave the Lady Bulldogs (17-12-1, 6-5 ) the lead and Kelcie O'Donnell finished it with a push into an open spot for the 16-14 win.
"I'm real proud of the emotion they played with at the end of that match," Phelan said. "It kind of started [in Game 4 ]. We were down so big in Game 4... and it carried over to Game 5."
The Lady Mounties saw a big lead in Game 4 nearly disappear. Fayetteville got within 21-19 but Rogers got kills from Rachel Woodson, Anderson and Clement to pull out a 25-23 win.
Fayetteville did over- take Rogers in Game 3, rallying from a 20-17 deficit to win 25-22. The Lady Bulldogs rattled off six straight points, including an ace from Cassie Clarke and two kills by Martin.
"We played up and down all night long," Rogers coach Jeana Breedlove said. "We had them down and then we let them come back. We were just nonchalant and let them power back into the game."
After playing flat in a three-game loss to leagueleading Bentonville on Tuesday, the Lady Mounties weren't focused early against Fayetteville. The Lady Bulldogs pulled away late on a couple of Sara Pfitzinger kills for a 25-19 win.
"I think my girls underestimated them because we beat them [last month ]," Breedlove said. "We didn't come ready again tonight."
The Lady Mounties rallied to win Game 2, getting two kills from Anderson and a Fayetteville error after the Lady Bulldogs had game point at 24-23.
When Rogers escaped Fayetteville with a fivegame win last month, the teams traded games the same way.
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