Pea Ridge volleyball is in uncharted territory, and sophomore Mikhaela Cochran is enjoying every minute of it.
Just four years after starting a volleyball program, the Lady Blackhawks will make the school’s first appearance in the Class 4A Tournament as the No. 2 seed from the 4A Northwest Region.
Pea Ridge took that first step last week by defeating Berryville 3-1 and then the Lady Blackhawks pulled off a stunning upset of Gravette to advance to the tournament finals, where they lost to Prairie Grove.
Pea Ridge uses a rotation of four juniors and four sophomores, and Cochran has been a key ingredient in the Lady Blackhawks success. The sophomore had eight kills and seven digs in the Lady Blackhawks’ upset of Gravette, and she’s looking for an even better effort at the state tournament.
Pea Ridge (17-12) opened the state tournament against Brookland at noon Tuesday in Harrison.
“The win over Gravette was awesome, I loved it,” Cochran said. “They were No. 1, but we talked a lot better on the court and we were able to beat them.
After we beat them in the third set, I knew we could finish them off .”
Pea Ridge’s four sophomores were part of a conference championship team in junior high, and Woods said she had a feeling this year’s team could be special. Cochran, Sarah Kahle and Jerika Schooley form the core of the Lady Blackhawks offense.
“It’s a huge step for us,” said Woods, who is in her second season at the school. “We are a young team, but the girls work well together and they have the fundamentals down.
“We have always had the talent, and we did a lot of camps this year. I knew we had a solid group of juniors to go with the sophomores.
We are good at reading defenses and finding the holes.”
Cochran said she has gained confidence with each match. For the year, she has recorded 77 aces,157 kills and 60 blocks.
“I’m more confident on the net,” Cochran said. “It’s a huge step for us, and I’m thinking we can win our first round game. If we can do that, I think we have a good chance to win it.”
Woods said the win over Gravette was a typical performance for the young Lady Blackhawks.
“That’s the thing about this team, sometimes it takes them a little while to warm up,” Woods said.
“So, by the time we got to the second game, we beat them pretty good. By the third game, we were pretty warmed up.”
Cochran is also one of the school’s busiest athletes as she also runs cross country and plays basketball in the winter. She competes in track and field in the spring.
“It hard to juggle all that at times, but I love them all and I push through it,” Cochran said.
For the next week, though, Cochran has her sights set on volleyball as Pea Ridge begins its journey into uncharted territory.
Sports, Pages 7 on 10/31/2012