Lady Goblins advance in regional tournament

Published 5:00 am Thursday, October 22, 2026

MENA — The Harrison Lady Goblins opened the Class 4A North Region Tournament on Monday in Mena.

It ended as the Lady Goblins would have wanted. Harrison defeated Ozark in three sets, 25-12, 25-19, 25-17, to move on to the semifinals.
The victory also earned the Lady Goblins a trip to the Class 4A State Volleyball Tournament that will be held next week in Bauxite.
Lady Goblin serving proved to be the difference in the match. Harrison only recorded 13 aces in the contest, but Ozark was left scrambling to return the ball in their allotted three hits.
Harrison flexed their muscles in the middle of the first set to take control of the match.
The Lady Goblins started with a 3-1 lead thanks to a tip and an ace by freshman Colbie Ricketts.
Harrison expanded that lead to 5-2 after a kill from Lily Burns and the second ace serve of the match by a Harrison player when Mia Miller connected on one.
Burns had another kill and the Lady Goblins led 6-3.
Ozark didn’t go away. Two Harrison hitting errors and a blocking error followed by a coverage mistake gave the Lady Hillbillies a 7-6 lead.
That was all that Harrison was having of that.
The Lady Goblins ended the set with a 19-5 run to secure the first set.
That run started with a tip by Ricketts. Holly Keeter had her first kill of the match off of a set from Mollie Lineberger.
With the scoreboard reading, 9-7, Burns reeled off two aces in a run.
After a Harrison hitting error, Keeter came back with a kill and Miller had one to push Harrison ahead, 13-9.
Grace Jennings found her spot during the next Harrison stage. She had a tip and kill that sandwiched around an ace from Ricketts.
A passing error gave the serve to Ozark at 17-11, but Jennings put the ball back into Miller’s hands with a kill. Miller served two aces and Ozark had three hitting errors to push Harrison to a 23-11 lead.
Jennings had a tip and Keeter finished the set with a kill.
Ozark stayed around Harrison in the second set.
The Lady Goblins had taken a 9-5 lead, but two passing errors, a hitting and a coverage error allowed Ozark to tie the score at 9-9.
Lineberger corrected those matters with a kill and Lily Ostberg had two ace serves to put Harrison ahead, 13-9.
Later in the set, the Lady Hillbillies were able to cut the Harrison lead to 19-16, but Burns had a hit, Ozark had a hitting error and Burns had an ace serve to give control back to Harrison at 22-16.
Lineberger had two more kills in the set including the final one to end the game.
Harrison controlled the third and final set from the beginning.
Jennings had a kill and Ricketts an ace as the set was tied at 2-2.
Harrison never trailed the rest of the match.
With three straight points late in the set, Harrison had doubled up Ozark, 22-11 as Keeter and Burns each had a kill.
As the match had started with a Harrison point from Ricketts, it ended with a Ricketts kill to move Harrison to the semifinals of the regional tournament.
The Lady Goblins played Huntsville on Tuesday evening in the semifinal match. It was the fifth time that the two teams had met this season.
Huntsville defeated host Mena in the 6 p.m. Monday game, 25-19, 25-17, 25-23, to earn a state tournament trip.
Pottsville started the day’s events with a 15-19, 25-9, 25-17 win over Elkins. Clarksville continued the 4A-2’s winning with a 27-25, 25-21, 25-18, win over Gravette.
Clarksville and Pottsville met in the other semifinal game for the right to play the winner of the Harrison/Huntsville match.
Leading Harrison offensively was Jennings with 10 kills, two tips, one ace and one block. Burns had four kills, two tips, one block and three aces; Ricketts had two kills, four tips and four aces; Lineberger had six kills and one tip; Keeter seven kills; Miller one kill and three aces; and Ostberg two aces.