In high school sports, “new” is rarely good news. Rosters turn over, coaches move on, and conferences get reshuffled, leaving green players and staff to fill seasoned veterans’ shoes. This past summer, Mansfield volleyball didn’t get hit with one of the “new” curses, or even two, but the Lady Tigers faced all three in just a couple of months. Mansfield saw key seniors graduate, their head coach head for another school, and the program was shuffled into a new division. On paper, it looked like a rebuilding year of doom, doom, doom for Mansfield volleyball. But on Wednesday, October 28th, the Lady Tigers flipped the script and exchanged the doom for boom, boom, BOOM, digging deep to take down the Cotter Warriors and punch their ticket to the 2A State Championship.
New or not, the Lady Tigers came out of the gate serving up a surprising 9-1 start before hitting a wall with three straight losses. Falling to bigger programs like Van Buren, Fort Smith Northside, and Paragould might be forgivable for some, but in Mansfield, a loss is a loss, and this group took it personally. They answered with a 10-2-1 tear before stumbling against Van Buren once again. Not too shabby for a young team still finding its identity. When the dust settled on the regular season, Mansfield stood with an 11-1 conference record, a 19-9-1 overall record, and boasted the title of 2A-4 Conference and District Runner-Ups.
That finish was good enough for the No. 2 seed in the Regional Tournament, which is where the young Lady Tigers turned heads again, knocking off tournament mainstays Lifeway Christian and Thaden before coming up just short in the Championship game. Even so, the Runner-Up finish punched their ticket to the State Tournament in Piggott. Mansfield wasted no time making a statement that their youth isn’t to be underestimated. The Lady Tigers cruised to back-to-back shutouts of Arkansas Christian Academy and the home-standing Piggott Mohawks. Next up, the State Semifinals.
Mansfield had already shocked the state by even making it to the State Tournament, let alone the State Semifinals. That kind of success with a fresh program isn’t fathomable. Well, the phantoms of fathom did it anyhow and now faced one more step to reach their preseason goal of playing in Hot Springs. That step was going to be a big one too, as the Lady Tigers now faced the Cotter Lady Warriors. The Lady Warriors stepped into the match with a 30-4 record while toting back-to-back conference, district, and regional titles to boot. So, when the Lady Tigers stepped onto the court, they knew that beating Cotter was going to be quite the feat.
Cotter jump-started the match with a slew of on the floor speed mixed with some high-velocity hits, but Mansfield never backed down. Coming out of the 2A-4, facing speed and big hits is a normal day on the court. The first set battle was epic beyond comprehension, but the Lady Warriors edged Mansfield out with a 25-23 score to take a one set lead. This is where the uncertainty of youth usually kicks in, uncertainty for Cotter, that is. The Lady Tigers took a narrow first set loss personally and roared back as Adeline Godwin, Miley Cloptin, and senior Danielle Lowery made crucial plays to help Mansfield pull off a 25-23 win of their own in set two. Now that each team had an equal sized set under their belt, it was game on. A wild third set saw the Lady Tigers and Cotter yet again with the Lady Warriors repeating the same score as their first set with a 25-23 win. How evenly matched these two teams were was written all over the scoreboard as Cotter held a 2-1 lead with each match’s final score being 25-23.
If you were a fan of volleyball, the first three sets were an absolute blast. If you were a fan of one team or the other, it was a heart attack’s worth of nerves firing off with every hit of the ball. The Lady Warriors were one set away from the school’s first ever State Championship appearance. With history, confidence, and momentum all on Cotter’s side of the net, the set began. It wasn’t what Cotter expected though, as Danielle Lowery blasted two kills in a row to give Mansfield an early lead. But Cotter didn’t just pack up and leave the court though. The Lady Warriors brought on a surge of their own, but they were a day late and a dollar short as Mansfield broke the scoring trend to win 25-22, taking the fourth set to force a fifth and final match.
Not many matches go into five sets, especially with the set wins being by just two points. This game, on the other hand, was something to behold by fans of all sports as Mansfield and Cotter prepared to face off one last time and this time, it was for the whole enchilada. Fifth sets only go to 15 points, so both teams knew to come out firing on all cylinders. Unfortunately for Cotter, Mansfield still had a Tiger in the tank as Danielle Lowery drove five of Mansfield’s first eight points into the Lady Warriors’ floor. Adeline Godwin showed her cards and caused Cotter to fold by slamming an ace down to help the Lady Tigers jump to a commanding 10-1 lead in the final set. The explosive nature of the Lady Tigers in the fifth set was not what Cotter expected as the Lady Warriors began to make critical errors that led to Mansfield points. With the Lady Tigers fully in command, the score inched up to a 14-5 Mansfield lead before Adeline Godwin put the Lady Tigers’ final point over the net for a 15-5 final set victory.
Mansfield killed it in the kills department with a grand total of 70 kills in the five round bout. Leading the way was Danielle Lowery with team-high 23 kills on the night. Adeline Godwin finished with 25 kills, followed by Miley Clopton with 11 and Bentley Hoover, who secured eight. The Lady Tigers served up some booming serves to outscore Cotter 10-4 in the service aces department. One stat that cannot be accounted for is the Lady Tigers’ determination. To battle five sets and come out victorious against a very impressive Cotter team is something that cannot be reflected in the numbers of a book.
The newness of key seniors graduating, their head coach heading to another school, and the program being shuffled into a new division didn’t faze the Lady Tigers. First-year head coach, Brandi Heydenreich, may have been new to the position, but in the job itself, she has proved that building up athletes and winning comes to her naturally. Boom. Those who filled last year’s seniors’ shoes now have a pair of their own to be filled eventually. Boom. As for the new division, it’s just another set of solid competition for Mansfield, and the Lady Tigers treated it as such. And one last….BOOM.
Now, for something that isn’t new for Mansfield’s volleyball program. Hot Springs. The Lady Tigers will play in Hot Springs on Saturday, October 31st for the 2A State Volleyball Championship. Mansfield has made the same trip five of the past six years with a four-peat of championships in the 2A division and last year’s 3A State Title. But Saturday is Halloween, and the Lady Tigers’ opponent is definitely one to be scared of. The Hackett Lady Hornets have a State Championship history of their own. The Lady Hornets have played for a Championship gold every single year since 2019, winning four of those trophies along the way. Hacket also has a 3-1 record against Mansfield this year. One thing is for sure: two of the most potent volleyball programs of the past decade will face off this Saturday. One team will walk away tricked while the other leaves with golden candy.
