ROGERS — Fort Smith Southside avenged an earlier volleyball defeat at Conway with a straight-set victory Friday in the semifinals of the state 7A playoffs at Heritage High School.
The Lady Rebels, who split matches with Conway during the regular season, now advance to the state championship game Saturday at Valley View High School. They were making their 19th appearance in the state semifinals.
Drew Jones had 21 kills and Sarita Stegall contributed 31 assists as Southside held off a furious Conway rally in the first game.
The Lady Rebels won, 25-23, 25-19, 25-22.
Conway, the top-seed from the 7A-Central, trailed by seven points midway through the first game but rallied to tie the score before the Lady Rebels closed out by scoring three of the final four points. Conway rallied within one point in the third set before Southside pulled away.
BEAUMONT, Texas — The Central Arkansas volleyball team got back to its winning ways with a 25-22, 25-20, 25-22 victory over Lamar on Friday night.
The Sugar Bears (24-4, 12-3 SLC) hit .266 on the night, led by Alicia Dittrich, who hit .467 on her way to 10 kills, three digs, a block, and an ace. Jessica Hays led Central Arkansas with 12 kills, also turning in seven digs, two aces, and a block. Scout Brooks tied for the team lead in digs with 11, to go along with nine kills. Marissa Collins dished out 34 assists and added seven digs.
The Lady Cardinals (10-19, 2-13 SLC) hit .255 for the match.
Central Arkansas returns to action at 2 p.m. Saturday against McNeese State in Lake Charles, La..
Editor’s Note: The following items were omitted from Saturday’s edition of Area Roundup.
BEAUMONT, Texas _ The University of Central Arkansas men’s and women’s cross country squads both turned in fifth-place finishes Friday at the Southland Conference Cross Country Championships at Tyrrell Park here.
The UCA men placed two runners in the top 10 in their 8K race, while the women had three runners in the top 25 at the 6K distance.
UCA junior Amos Gerber finished seventh in 24:14.7, while freshman Edward Limo was right behind in eighth in a time of 24:24.1 Freshman Albert Maeder was next in 34th place (25:58.9), while sophomore Connor Ryan was 38th (26:11.5). Freshman Corentin Louis finished 43rd (26:22.5), freshman Ryan Davidson was 47th (26:37.5) and junior Jeremiah Fleeman was 50th (27:04.3). UCA’s No. 5 finish was its best since moving to NCAA Division I and joining the SLC in 2006.
McNeese State won the men’s race with 25 points, followed by Lamar (66), Stephen F. Austin (80), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (90), UCA (130), Sam Houston State (165), Oral Roberts (231), Northwestern State (240) and Southeastern Louisiana (243).
On the women’s side, Stephanie Simpson, a sophomore from Chicago, ran a 22:18.0 to finish 14th overall. Junior Erika Setzler of Conway was 17th in a time of 22:31.9, while junior Kayla Nehus was 21st (22:37.2).
Senior Courtney Efurd finished 27th (23:03.1), while freshman Jill Carson was 41st (23:42.2), senior Megan Effinger was 45th (24:08.0), and junior Emily Carroll was 47th (24:15.2). The fifth-place finish was UCA’s top finish since moving to NCAA Division I and joining the SLC in 2006.
Stephen F. Austin won the meet with 56 points, edging Sam Houston State (58). Lamar was third (80), followed by Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (82), UCA (120), McNeese State (148), Nicholls State (173), Oral Roberts (204), Northwestern State (206) and Southeastern Louisiana (265).
The NCAA South Central Regional will be held Nov. 9 in Fayetteville.
St. Joseph split two varsity basketball games against Academics Plus at the St. Joseph Family Activity Center on Thursday night.
The Lady Bulldogs (1-2) lost, 44-41.
Caroline Dail had 12 points and seven rebounds. Morgan Kordsmeier added nine, Taylor Welch eight and Abbey Kordsmeier five.
“The girls fought hard all game,” said St. Joseph coach Chris Kordsmeier. “I was proud of our effort. We need to do a better job of taking care of the ball. We just got too many turnovers.”
The Bulldogs (3-0) had it easy with a 67-26 romp. Andrew Beck had 17 points and Cole Schichtl, 10 and five rebounds. Other statistical leaders were: Drew Bates, seven points; Dylan Schrenkenhofer, seven and eight rebounds. Nash Nichols, five points; Andrew Kordsmeier, six rebounds; Landon Enderlin, four assists; William Fields, three assists; and Taylor Schrenkenhofer, three steals.
In junior boys, St. Joseph won, 45-34. Noah Bray had 19 points, three steals and two assists. Owen Echols added 12 points. Nathan Hambuchen had six. Landon Bruich had four points and eight rebounds. Dvid Beck had four points and six rebounds.
GUY — Guy-Perkins senior girls basketball team, consisting of seniors Cari Beth Halk, Victoria Rodgers, and Coyja Hood; juniors Alexis Hogan, Ashley Hicks, and Ashley Ray; and sophomores Abagail Smith, Morgan Hooten, and Ericka Rimmer and freshman Alli Brown, opened the season with three straight victories.
The Lady Thunderbirds opened with a 71-63 victory over West Side of Greers Ferry on the road. Brown led with 31 points while Rodgers had nine. Hogan and Smith each scored eight.
The Lady Thunderbirds used a second-half surge to power to a home victory, 78-56, over Rural Special. Smith had 20 points and seven rebounds. Brown added 18 points and 10 rebounds. Hogan had 13 points and nine rebounds. Halk had 12 points, Rodgers, five; Ray, four, Hicks, three and Hood, one.
Against South Side of Bee Branch on the road, Guy-Perkins won, 71-57. Smith led all scorers with 19, followed by Rodgers with 16; Hogan, 13, and Brown, 12.
The Faulkner County Falcons opened their 2012-2013 homeschool basketball season with 50-49 come-from-behind victory Thursday night over Christian Ministries Academy in Hot Springs.
Mark Baker hit a 10-foot baseline jump shot with 10 seconds remaining to secure the win. The Falcons tied the game at 38 at the end of the third quarter.
Trent Wolf led the scoring with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Carter Mayo added nine points. Daniel McNair had eight points and Baker had seven. Grant Ragland had six points and five assists and Colton Ferrell added four points.
(UCA Sports Information contributed to this report)