Blackhawks fall to Shiloh in four sets

The Lady Blackhawks put up a valiant effort Thursday night, but fell to Shiloh Christian who remained undefeated.

The Lady Saints improved to 10-0 with a 25-15, 22-25, 25-20, 25-17 victory over the Lady Blackhawks in prep volleyball action.

Shiloh Christian (8-0 in 4A-Northwest) got 15 kills each from Rylee Odell and Emerson Traweek to offset a match-high 18 kills from Pea Ridge's Josey Goldberg who surpassed 1,000 kills for her career during Thursday's match.

Shiloh Christian coach Nathan Bodenstein liked the way his team bounced back from the second-set loss.

"We knew Pea Ridge was gonna come back and fight," Bodenstein said. "We thought a good start was really important but I give credit to them. We made like maybe 12 errors in that second set. I just said on a good team you can't gift them points.

"I'm really proud of how they came back though, kinda took back control. We got them out of system a lot. We know Josey Goldberg for sure is a stud, so we knew 'Hey, if they're out of system they're gonna go to her.' We could pretty much pick up our defense around that. I was just really proud of how they adjusted. We started triple blocking there at the end and that seemed to work."

The Lady Saints were strong from the service line that helped keep the Lady Blackhawks (6-4, 5-2) in the opening set. A 10-2 run gave them control 16-6 in the opening set en route to the win.

Pea Ridge responded in the second set, scoring the final four points to earn the win. But then it was the Lady Saints' turn to answer.

Goldberg's ace gave the Lady Blackhawks a 7-6 lead in the third, but Shiloh Christian came with a 6-0 run and never trailed again in the set. The Lady Saints finally gained control in the fourth set with a 5-0 spurt for a 21-14 lead and went on to close out the match.

The 6'1" Odell chipped in with four aces and three blocks, while junior setter Kathleen Murphree had a team-high six aces to go with 21 assists. Katelyn Simpson led with 22 assists. Traweek put up a double-double with 10 digs to go with her 15 kills.

Ryli Russ led the defense with 19 digs for the Lady Saints.

Shiloh Christian's Ryan Russell (13) and Madelyn Sestak block the shot by Pea Ridge's Josey Goldberg Thursday Sept. 17, 2020 at Pea Ridge. For more photos visit http://nwamedia.photoshelter.com/ (NWA Democrat-Gazette/J.T.WAMPLER)

Shiloh Christian's Emerson Traweek tries to score while Pea Ridge's Zaelea Harris defends Thursday Sept. 17, 2020 at Pea Ridge. For more photos visit http://nwamedia.photoshelter.com/ (NWA Democrat-Gazette/J.T.WAMPLER)