Farmington All-Conference Volleyball

THREE LADY CARDINALS NAMED TO 5A WEST TEAM

MARK HUMPHREY ENTERPRISE-LEADER Farmington 2018 graduate Ella Wilson, a middle blocker/hitter, plays the ball over the net against Clarksville. The Lady Cardinals swept the visitors 3-0 Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2017. A day earlier Wilson became the All-time leader in block-kills when she recorded 3 in a match against Huntsville.
MARK HUMPHREY ENTERPRISE-LEADER Farmington 2018 graduate Ella Wilson, a middle blocker/hitter, plays the ball over the net against Clarksville. The Lady Cardinals swept the visitors 3-0 Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2017. A day earlier Wilson became the All-time leader in block-kills when she recorded 3 in a match against Huntsville.

FARMINGTON -- Three Farmington girls were named to the 5A West All-Conference team for the 2017 season: Kaylee Purifoy, Anthea Jones, and Kaydyn Truitt. Truitt was also named All-State.

Kaydyn Truitt

Truitt involved herself in all facets of the game after transferring in midway through what would have been her junior season of volleyball from Springdale Har-Ber. Truitt was the team leader in kills and second in aces. She had 143 kills, 41 aces, and 330 digs during regular season play.

"Kaydyn has been an excellent player for us this year," said Farmington coach Marshall Ward following a senior night loss to Harrison. "I think she knew quite a bit when she got here. She made it in last year halfway through the season so she wasn't eligible. If you didn't know that you would think she's been here."

Truitt wore jersey No. 6, saying she learned a lot more about volleyball her senior season from Ward and assistant coach Mike Howard.

"She was a very big part of our team day in and day out," Ward said. "We had a big win against Alma here. She was a big part of that."

Farmington 3, Clarksville 0

The plan was to concentrate on serving to a particular spot of the volleyball court and Farmington (5-12) accomplished that well enough to defeat Clarksville (25-14, 25-8, 25-17) on Oct. 3, 2017.

The rotation changed for the 2017 season with Ward switching offenses from the 5-1 he has run in the past.

"We're running a 6-2 this year, that eats up a lot of subs fast," Ward said. "When you run out, you can't sub anymore."

The other team dynamic that was drastically different from 2016 was the presence of only four seniors on the roster. The bulk of the squad was made up of eight sophomores, who according to Ward had to learn to assert themselves.

"We have young kids, we're starting five sophomores on varsity," Ward said. "The last five years I started two, maybe three 10th-graders. To have five 10th-graders starting, doing their job well is a pleasant surprise."

Among the group, Madison Holliman started at center, Kally Stout at right hitter, Brittany Pittman at middle hitter, Madison Lovell at defensive specialist and Paige Anderson also at defensive specialist on the back row.

Coming into the match against winless Clarksville, Ward sought to polish the serving aspect and there was some success. Stout's ace put the Lady Cardinals ahead, 19-10, in the first set. A kill by senior middle hitter Ella Wilson got Farmington to 21, then came a mini 4-0 run by Clarksville before senior Camryn Journagan's ace finished the set. Farmington won 25-14.

"We were also trying some placement serves," Ward said. "We missed some short. We missed some long. We were trying to hit really aggressive serves. The more aggressive you get with any shot, there is more opportunity to have error there."

Holiman and Truitt served aces, then Anderson reeled off four aces as Farmington jumped all over the Lady Panthers in the second set and got off to a 20-2 lead. Stout's kill brought the Lady Cardinals to game-point at 24-7 and they won 25-8 on Jones' kill.

The Lady Cardinals pulled away from a 4-5 deficit in the third set with 5 straight points courtesy of Clarksville errors. The Lady Panthers were still hanging around trailing 12-9 and 18-15 on Johanna Rodriguez' kill, but gave up three consecutive points on miscues. Farmington arrived at game-point leading 24-17 on a Clarksville service error and won on a long hit.

Sports on 07/04/2018