Arkansas high school volleyball Top 25 rankings (9/16/2024)

This week's rankings in Arkansas high school volleyball

Jeff Halpern | Sep 16, 2024

Photo by Tommy Land

Little Rock Central was the biggest mover in this week’s SBLive Arkansas volleyball rankings.

Little Rock Central (10-1-1), which was ranked No. 17 a week ago, won the LRCA Classic with a 2-1 victory over No. 2 Benton, the two-time defending state champion in Class 5A, in the championship game of the gold bracket. The teams met earlier in the day in pool play, playing to a tie.

After going 5-0-1 at the LRCA Classic and beating No. 14 Bryant 3-2 on Thursday, the Tigers make the biggest move in the rankings from No. 17 to No. 2

The Tigers have been without head coach Markie Alberius, who is on maternity leave after the birth of her son Ace. (Assistant coach Jessica Cantrell has been filling in.) The Tigers’ only loss of the season was a five-set defeat to Baptist Prep on Sept. 3.

In recent years, the 6A-Central has been ruled by No. 6 Conway, which has won 42 consecutive conference matches. The teams meet Thursday at Boone-Fitzpatrick Fieldhouse in Little Rock.

The past two years, the Tigers have fallen in the quarterfinals of the 6A state tournament to Fort Smith Southside.

Is this the year Central can finish in the top two in the conference and get as far as the semifinals? We’ll find out over the next seven weeks.

1. FORT SMITH SOUTHSIDE (7-0)

Previous rank: No. 1

Very big week for Lady Mavericks who beat No. 4 Shiloh Christian in five sets and beat Fayetteville in four sets for the first time since 2020.

“You know, looking at this week on the calendar, we knew we would have two big chances to get better at volleyball. And to make it extra spicy, we were on the road both nights! We played two elite, incredibly well-coached programs with Coach (Nathan) Bodenstein and Coach (Jessica) Phelan, and managed to come out with two wins. I couldn’t be more proud. The biggest takeaway for me was the fact that this group faced some big adversity and managed to come together and right the ship.” — Southside head coach Natalie Throneberry.

2. LITTLE ROCK CENTRAL (10-1-1)

Previous rank: No. 17

Lady Tigers tie No. 2 Benton in pool play at the LRCA Classic and beat the Lady Panthers 2-1 for the championship in the Gold Bracket.

“It was a hard-fought victory. I’m so proud of this team. Coach (Markie) Alberius has done a great job building this program. They play like a family. They play like a team and that’s how we win. We play together and we don’t stop. I know Markie is proud of us. She is so proud of them. This is a big win as we go into major conference play. We’re here and we’re going to show up and we’re here to win.” — Little Rock Central assistant coach Jessica Cantrell.

3. BENTON (10-1-1)

Previous rank: No. 2

Lady Panthers suffer first loss of the season at the LRCA Classic, losing 2-1 to Little Rock Central in the finals after tying the Lady Tigers in pool play.

“We’ve got to do better. We’ve got to play better, play better at the net. We only had four blocks and that’s not enough to stop the caliber of Central. We need to play match by match and stay focused. I hope the sting of losing sticks with us in practice and in other matches when something similar happens to us. We’ve got to do a better job of not missing serves. This is the first time we did not serve very well.” — Benton head coach Michelle Shoppach

4. FAYETTEVILLE (8-3)

Previous rank: No. 3

Lady Bulldogs overcome 4-set loss to No. 1 Fort Smith Southside with a 5-set victory over No. 5 Springdale Har-Ber.

“I think that early season losses are only bad if you don’t learn from them. We had some great moments that we can take away and build on. Both of the teams really played with minimal errors and made the other score their own points. It was clean volleyball, a tough battle, high spirited, and hand it to Southside, I thought they played a great match.” — Fayetteville head coach Jessica Phelan

5. SHILOH CHRISTIAN (9-1)

Previous rank: No. 4

Lady Saints went 2-1 with the lone loss to No. 1 Fort Smith Southside in five sets. They’ll step out of conference Monday with a match at No. 12 Hackett.

“We are looking forward to another great non conference matchup. Hackett is well coached and has two of the best outside hitters in the state. It will be a tough road game for us, but we are looking forward to the great competition.” — Shiloh Christian head coach Nathan Bodenstein.

6. CONWAY (11-3)

Previous rank: No. 7

Lady Cats had to go five sets to beat Hot Springs Lakeside and No. 15 Cabot.

“Tonight's match was a great win on the road. Cabot is a great team and very well coached. After the first set we made some adjustments with our blockers and our defense was able to make better plays. Our serve receive was really solid for most of the match and our hitters did a great job of being more aggressive. Our setters started making better decisions and went with hot hitters.” — Conway head coach Laura Crow

7. BAPTIST PREP (16-3-1)

Previous rank: No. 6

Loss to Bryant and tie with Van Buren drop Lady Eagles into Silver Bracket at LRCA Classic where they rebounded to win that bracket with victories over Searcy, Russellville and Jonesboro Westside.

8. VALLEY VIEW (7-3-1)

Previous rank: No. 8

Lady Blazers suffer five-set loss to Houston (Tenn.), sweep West Memphis had match with Marion postponed because of weather.

9. MARION (9-2)

Previous rank: No. 9

Lady Patriots sweep Paragould and had match with Valley View postponed because of weather.

10. FORT SMITH NORTHSIDE (9-3)

Previous rank: No. 18

Lady Bears open the week with a four-set victory over No. 5 Springdale Har-Ber and end it with a 2-1 loss to No. 2 Benton in the semifinals of the LRCA Classic.

11. BROOKLAND (11-2)

Previous rank: No. 10

Lady Bearcats beat No. 15 Cabot and Mount St. Mary on Monday, sweep Blytheville and had match with Pocahontas postponed because of weather.

12. HACKETT (14-0)

Previous rank: No. 11

Lady Hornets, who’ve lost only one set all year, will have a big test vs. No. 4 Shiloh Christian.

"We are looking forward to the Shiloh Christian match. We know they are a great team, and it will be a fun match.” — Hackett head coach Bridget Freeman

13. SPRINGDALE HAR-BER (10-7)

Previous rank: No. 5

Tough week for Lady Wildcats who dropped two 6A-West Conference matches and went 2-3 at the Owasso Ram Invitational against teams that are a combined 65-33. In addition, Reece Erickson was named to the all-tournament team in Oklahoma.

14. BENTONVILLE WEST (8-4)

Previous rank: No. 13

Lady Wolverines rebound from 5-set loss to Webb City (Mo.) and 4-set loss to Rogers with sweep of Northside.

15. MOUNT ST. MARY (11-4)

Previous rank: Not ranked

Belles open week with a 2-1 loss to Brookland, but sweep Sylvan Hills and beat No. 19 Little Rock Christian Academy in five sets with the first four being decided by a total of nine points.

“This is big. This is our first time beating Little Rock Christian at home. The past two years we lost to them at home and beat them at our place. I love the Christian school rivalry. It’s very respectful and we care about each other. A lot of these kids have played club ball in the offseason. I’m really proud of this team and we’re building connections. We’re being very coachable.” — Mount St. Mary head coach Olivia Stroud.

16. PRAIRIE GROVE (10-1-1)

Previous rank: No. 16

Lady Tigers continue to stay hot in 4A-1 with wins over Lincoln, Green Forest and Huntsville.

17. BENTONVILLE (4-4)

Previous rank: No. 13

With one match scheduled, Lady Tigers sweep Rogers Heritage.

18. BRYANT (5-3-1)

Previous rank: No. 14

Lady Hornets fall to Benton in the Gold Bracket at the LRCA Classic after beating No. 21 Episcopal Collegiate and No. 6 Baptist Prep and tying Van Buren in pool play.

19. PARIS (11-2)

Previous rank: No. 20

Lady Eagles staying hot with victories over Mayflower, Ozark and Clarksville.

20. LITTLE ROCK CHRISTIAN ACADEMY (7-4)

Previous rank: No. 19

Lady Warriors win their pool at their own tournament with victories over Harrisburg, North Little Rock and Alma before falling to Little Rock Central in bracket play.

21. GRAVETTE (8-4)

Previous rank: Not ranked

After losing their first two matches of the season to Hackett and Prairie Grove, the Lady Lions have won 8 of their last 10.

22. HARDING ACADEMY (9-1)

Previous rank: No. 22

Lady Wildcats go 5-0 for the week including wins over Pocahontas, Highland and Manila at the Cave City Invitational.

23. POTTSVILLE (10-4-1)

Previous rank: No. 23

Lady Apaches have a strong week, going 8-1-1 and winning the Lonoke Invitational.

24. MANSFIELD (6-4-2)

Previous rank: No. 23

Lady Tigers sweep West Fork and suffer five-set loss to Lincoln.