CCS volleyball takes conference win over Nemo Vista

By Charlie Livingston
UCA sportswriting

Conway Christian was about to put the finishing touches on a three-game sweep of conference rival Nemo Vista when fatigue caught up to the Lady Eagles on Thursday.

But the Lady Eagles held on for a 25-23, 25-17, 25-20 3A-Central victory.

"We just had a tough loss (Tuesday) to St. Joseph and we're just now finally getting some girls back," CCS coach Heather Law said.

Conway Christian moved to 7-3 overall and 7-2 in the 3A-Central. Nemo Vista fell to 9-2 overall and 7-2.


Game 1 was a back-and-forth battle that neither team led by more than five points. Conway Christian was able to close out the game by scoring six of the last eight points.

Game 2 was highlighted by a disputed point and stopped play for about five minutes. Once they started playing again, Olivia Mayweather scored on four straight serves, including an ace, and Conway Christian cruised from there, outscoring Nemo Vista 17-4 to win 25-17.

Game 3 probably should not have been close. Conway Christian was cruising along comfortably at 17-4 after Mary Nabholz, a senior, scored on 11 straight serves to seemingly put the match out of reach.

But Nemo Vista was not done. After a time-out, Nemo Vista cut Conway Christian's lead to 21-18 with the serve. Law called a time-out of her own to settle her team.

“We were just flat," she said. "We lost focus and we were about to let the game slip away.”

After the time-out, the Lady Eagles outscored Nemo Vista 4-2 to finish the sweep.

Law was much happier with her team's effort against Nemo Vista.

“We had the same amount of kills in the St. Joe game as our leading girl, Morgan May, did tonight,” she said.

As nice as the win over Nemo Vista was, Law could not help but be reflective about a possible missed opportunity against St. Joseph, which remained unbeaten.

“St. Joe was the game you marked on your calendar even before the season, that was the game that you wanted to show up for, and we were not able to and that was disappointing,” she said.

For CCS, Taylor Guinn had four kills, eight assists and three aces. May chipped in with five kills, three blocks and a kill block. Law also recognized Lexi Dather, who had never played in a varsity match and came in to help the banged-up Lady Eagles.

Law said the Lady Eagles had not been able to play their ideal lineup once this season, and Thursday was even more of a struggle.

“Reagan Bell is a girl that swings from the JV team to the varsity and could not play tonight because she had to study for a test,” she said.

Conway Christian will play in the Panther Power Jam at Greenbrier on Saturday, then return to conference play when it plays host to Mayflower on Monday.