HACKETT- The start of the 2023 high school volleyball season is just around the corner, and it should be another strong year for volleyball in western Arkansas.
In classes 2A and 3A, the Mansfield Lady Tigers and the Hackett Lady Hornets are expected to continue their dominance both within their respective conferences and in the state playoffs for both classifications.
RNN Sports has taken a look at the upcoming seasons in Class 2A & 3A West conferences, and we have made our predictions in this story. Four teams from each conference will advance to the state tournament, and we have made our predictions below for the four teams we believe will make the state tournament from their conferences.
2A WEST
The Mansfield Lady Tigers, winners of the past three state volleyball championships in Class 2A will again be favored to win the 2A West conference. Challenging Mansfield again will be the Lavaca Lady Arrows.
POSSIBLE PLAYOFF TEAMS FROM THE 2A WEST:
Mansfield
Lavaca
Life Way Christian
Thaden
3A WEST
The Hackett Lady Hornets, state finalists from 2022, should make another run deep into the 2023 state playoffs. Challenging Hackett this year could be an upstarting Booneville Lady Bearcats team led by their 2022 sophomore All-State libero, Lilly Downs. According to Booneville coach Bailey Stringer, “It’s very rare that a sophomore comes in and makes All-state in a year because it’s a huge transition going form the ninth grade to playing with 18-year-olds.”
POSSIBLE PLAYOFF TEAMS FROM THE 3A WEST:
Hackett
Booneville
Paris
Charleston
The Paris Lady Eagles have lost experience due to graduation and the transfer of a key senior to Greenwood for 2023. But Lady Eagles coach Josh Hart is happy with the Lady Eagles’ work and progress this summer. Speaking of his team’s progress, Coach Hart said, “We have had a good summer. I feel like we have gotten better with each camp we have played in. In our last camp at Greenwood, we dropped only one match all day.”
The 2023 season will be the last year in the current classification cycle for Hackett in Class 3A. The Lady Hornets will play in 2A in 2024, and Mansfield will move to 3A. Also moving to 3A in 2024 will be the Lavaca Lady Arrows.
All in all, it should be another exciting season of high school volleyball, and RNN Sports will be there to bring you all of the action!
And once again, if you have not already done so, now is a good time to subscribe to the RNN weekly newspapers just before the start of volleyball and football seasons! Just go to residentnewsnetwork.com/subscribe to get your subscription started today! We have print, weekly papers featuring LOCAL sports for west Arkansas, Greenwood, and Logan / Franklin counties!
Thanks for reading RNN Sports, and we will see you at a stadium or gymnasium near you!
