Northside was eager to finally beat Southside for the first time in more than a decade.

The Mavericks, though, came ready to play on their own.

Southside used several big runs in the opening two sets to take a 2-0 lead in Thursday’s 6A-Central volleyball showdown at Kaundart-Grizzly Fieldhouse. Then after the Lady Bears went up early in the third set, the Mavs embarked on a 12-1 run to take control, eventually sweeping the match 25-12, 25-13, 25-15.

“Northside’s a good team; we know they’re a good team. Every time we get on the floor it’s going to be a battle,” Southside coach Natalie Throneberry said. “I think our girls came in, really for the first time in a long time, across the board with a good mentality and it really carried over into our consistency; I’m very proud of them.”

Junior outside hitter Avery Fitzgerald opened the match with back-to-back kills, and Southside (15-5, 6-1) then went up 4-0 on Hannah Hogue’s serving ace.

The Lady Bears (11-7-1, 5-2) got to within a point, 5-4, before Southside reeled off the next five points. Southside’s front line of Fitzgerald, junior Aleigha Johnson and sophomore Toree Tiffee continued to make strong plays at the net as the Mavs built leads of 14-6 and 21-11.

“Our middles got going early and really opened up some big opportunities for our outsides, and Avery swung very, very smart (Thursday),” Throneberry said. “Bailey Vega was actually second in kills with 12 and she’s continuing to get better and better every week.”

Fitzgerald finished with 16 kills and nine digs, while Vega, a senior, added 12 kills along with a .588 hitting percentage.

After Northside scored the opening point of the second set, Southside scored the next seven, capped by consecutive kills from Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald registered another kill for a 14-6 lead; then had a powerful jump-serve ace to extend the lead to 10, 21-11, as the Mavs soon went up 2-0.


“We had a little bit of fight, a little bit pep in our step, a little bit of fire about us that I think we had kind of been waiting on to see consistently, and we’ve seen it in our C team, our JV and our varsity and I think we’re starting to put the pieces together a little quicker,” Throneberry said.

The Lady Bears came out strong in the third set, taking a 5-1 lead and later went up 9-5 on Emily Maxwell’s ace. But Southside proceeded to score 12 of the next 13 points, going in front 17-10 on senior Vega’s kill.

After Northside reeled off five straight points, capped by back-to-back kills from senior Lainey Logsdon, Vega had back-to-back kills, a block and two more kills as Southside swiped momentum, building a 22-15 advantage.

Aces from Fitzgerald and senior Kelsey Wilson finished off the match in the Mavericks’ favor.

“Southside’s a good team; I knew that coming in and I’ve seen them play,” Northside coach Matt Waack said. “We still haven’t found a way to stay disciplined and focused in that game. It’s just hard. It was the same thing when we saw Greenwood.

“We’re capable and we showed it in that third set, we’re capable of fighting back and being in it, but we can’t maintain our composure long enough; we don’t know how to let the mistakes just roll off, and I think that’s really the thing they (Southside) have got on us. The mistakes happen to them and they can just keep playing and keep chugging away. ... We’ve got to find a way to do better than that.”

Also for the Mavs, Tiffee had six kills and three blocks, Johnson five kills and three blocks and Hogue had 35 assists, 11 digs, two blocks and three aces.

For the Lady Bears, senior hitter Nicole Medlin had eight kills and a .538 hitting percentage. Logsdon added seven kills, while senior Lexie Mosby had 18 assists.

Southside returns home on Tuesday to face Conway, which handed the Mavs their only conference defeat, while Northside travels to face Bryant.
