Anytime you get Paris and Booneville together, regardless of the sport, fans from both communities know it is going to be a game of emotion and all-out play by both teams. Tuesday night’s game at Paris Gymnasium pitted the Lady Eagles against the much-improved Lady Bearcats. And the Lady Eagles, flying high over the opponents in the 2021 season, improved their record to 2-0 in the 3A West by sweeping Booneville 3-0.
Booneville is an improved program and it appeared that Paris respected the Lady Bearcats and their progress and were ready to fly at game time. The sets, however, were not that competitive with the Lady Eagles winning by the scores of 25-17, 25-11, and 25-6. As the match played out, the deficit between the two schools increased with Paris eventually taking one of its all star hitters, senior Alyssa Komp, out of the game in the third set.
In the first set, the Lady Eagles flew out to a 18-13 lead before Booneville called its first timeout. Paris mistakes were keeping the set fairly closed, but the Lady Eagles, both their front line hitters, and their outstanding back line were proving to be too much for the Lady Bearcats. Booneville called timeout again with Paris leading in the first set by the score of 23-14. The Lady Eagles front line then capped the first set victory with key kill shots that put the set away with Paris winning 25-17.
In the second set, Paris began to assert its dominance by racing out to a 11-6 lead. A short time after a Booneville team time out, an official time out was called for an injured Booneville player with the set score 14-7 in favor of Paris. Booneville again called time out with the score 21-11after the Lady Bearcats were taking multiple hits for scores against the strong Paris front line. Paris junior Rachel O’Neal served the final points to close out the second set with the Lady Eagles winning, 25-11.
In the third and final set, it was apparent that the momentum was completely on the side of Paris, and the Lady Eagles made quick work of securing the match win. Paris won the third match in dominating all phases of the match by a score of 25-6.
The tough non-conference portion of the Paris volleyball schedule is paying off in conference play for the Lady Eagles. And now, Paris will take a short break from conference play to host another Class 3A volleyball power in Harding Academy on Thursday at Paris Gymnasium. The Lady Wildcats will be another measure of how much Paris has improved this season and could be a preview of a state tournament match that could take place in October in Paris.
Resident Press will be in Paris on Thursday to cover the Lady Eagles big match with Harding Academy. Watch for this story over the weekend in Resident Press. And as always, photos from the game will be posted on Facebook at Paris Eagles Sports. Watch for these photos on Sunday evening.
Congratulations to the Lady Eagles on their second conference victory, and I hope to see you Thursday night for the big game with Harding Academy!
