Northside coach Matt Waack intentionally scheduled a tough non-conference slate for his Lady Bears.

For the second straight match, an opponent came into Kaundart-Grizzly Fieldhouse and came away with a win in straight sets.

This time, it was Springdale Har-Ber, who utilized a strong front line in registering the sweep Tuesday night, prevailing 25-15, 25-17, 25-12. Last Thursday, 5A power Greenwood posted a three-set sweep at Northside (1-2).

“I challenged them again (after Tuesday’s match); I think they’ve really got to pull together and play as a team,” Waack said. “I think individually, we have a lot of strength, but it brings a lot of weakness if we can’t pull together and play as a unit. ... The depth is there, they have just got to be willing to commit to playing whatever they’re doing that day to the best of their abilities and giving me 110 percent.

“I still think we’re playing a little reserved at times, hitting-wise, passing-wise. We don’t have that jell yet and it’s still early; we’ve got some sophomores getting in there, so that takes time. ... Squaring off against Greenwood and Har-Ber, those are tough teams and those really bring it out and I’m hoping that through this adversity, we really can start to jell.”

Har-Ber (1-2) scored nine of the first 13 points in the match and went on to a decisive win in the first set.

The Lady Bears started off the second set strong, as Nicole Medlin’s tip and Lexie Mosby’s ace staked them out to a 2-0 lead. But Har-Ber, behind 6-foot-2 sophomore middle hitter Kat Cooper, went on an 8-3 run to go in front.

Northside closed to within a point at 12-11, but Har-Ber reeled off six straight points behind kills from Cooper and senior Kyler Greenlee to seize control of the set.

Har-Ber also built a 7-2 lead in the third set after Cooper’s ace, and went up 13-4 on a kill from senior hitter Mackenzie White.


White finished with 14 kills, and Cooper added nine. Also for Har-Ber, Caylan Koons had 23 assists, Trinity Sharp recorded 13 digs and Skylar Fernandez served six aces, including one which ended the match.

For the Lady Bears, Medlin finished with seven kills, while senior Lainey Logsdon added four. Hannah Smith recorded 20 digs while Macie Grams and Mosby had 13 and 10 assists, respectively.

Northside has another home match Thursday, this time the 6A-Central opener against Bryant. The Lady Bears will also travel to Little Rock on Saturday for the Spikefest tournament.

“Hopefully, we can regain a little bit of confidence, lick our wounds and get after it (in practice Wednesday) and be ready for Thursday,” Waack said.

“Conference is here and the goal hasn’t changed; I knew Har-Ber was tough and I knew Greenwood was tough when I scheduled them and that’s why I scheduled them, I wanted to be challenged early so we could get used to that pressure in those situations and get ready.”


