Lady Devils drop J’ville

Lady Devils drop J’ville

WM School District The Academies of West Memphis volleyball team recorded its first postseason victory since 2008 on Saturday at Lehr Arena.

The Lady Devils swept Jacksonville in three sets (25-15, 25-19 and 25-15) to advance to the semifinals of the 6A-East Conference tournament.

West Memphis will travel to Marion for a semifinal match on Tuesday at 6 p.m.

However that one turns out, the Lady Devils will be no worse than the No. 4 seed in the Class 6A state tournament next week at Lake Hamilton.

'We're excited,' said a smiling West Memphis head coach Erin Neeley.

'The girls deserve it. They played great today and they played real hard. I think they really wanted this one.'

The Lady Devils seized the momentum early in the first set and were not intent on giving it back to Jacksonville.

'We worked hard this week on staying steady,' Neeley added. 'We didn't know anything about Jacksonville, so our girls knew they had to come in, ready to go.'

The Lady Devils relied heavily on defense all year and that continued to be the case in the first two sets against Jacksonville.

However, with sophomore Anna Nelson leading the way, the West Memphians hit some strategically placed shots on the back row against the Lady Red Devils in the final set.

'We saw the floor very well in that last set,' said Neeley. 'We found where the holes were.'

Offensively, Shelby Nix led the way in kills with 10 while Kassidy Pardy and Nelson each had 7 and Rileigh Smith registered 6.

Senior Eva Pouncey and sophomore Cameran Aaron led in assists with 12 each and Pardy was the top server with 2 aces while Smith had 1.

Defensively, the Lady Devils were led by Smith's 13 digs while Nelson added 12.

Photo by Billy Woods

Shelby Nix bumps a ball against Jacksonville on Saturday.

By Billy Woods