Southside coach Steve Haaser left Van Buren on Tuesday feeling good about his three seniors.

He also had plenty of nice things to say about the scrappy Van Buren Lady Pointers.


Senior Mikayla Dietz had 17 kills and the Mavericks overcame some poor serving en route to a 21-25, 25-10, 25-23, 23-25, 15-4 victory in the season opener for both teams.

Emiliee Aaron led Van Buren with eight kills.

"I was impressed with Van Buren; I thought they did a great job and they didn't make a whole lot of mistakes," Haaser said. "Their serving was on, and our serving about killed us. We missed too many serves. We're happy to get out of here with a win."

"I thought we played well," Van Buren coach Brent Reeves said. "We went toe-to-toe with one of the best programs in the state. They're great year in and year out. I thought they (Pointers) played hard."

After dropping the first set, Southside quickly fell behind 3-1 in the second game.

But the Mavericks ran off eight straight points and smashed their way to a 25-10 victory. Then, it was anyone's match.

Madison Teal's block and Jenny Tipton's ace put Southside ahead 16-9 in the third set.


But Hattie Morrison's kill jump-started an 11-6 run that saw Van Buren pull within 22-20.

Southside, which travels to Bentonville this weekend, appeared to have control midway through the fourth game after building a 12-8 lead.

But the Lady Pointers fought back to force a fifth and deciding set.

"I was real happy with the way they fought back and didn't give up," Reeves said. "They just kept grinding."

Van Buren led briefly 1-0 in the fifth game before Southside took control. Dietz had two early kills to help the team to an 8-3 lead. Van Buren got no closer than 10-4 the rest of the way.

Tipton finished with 26 assists and 10 kills. Teal and sophomore Hannah Holland had nine kills apiece. Holland also added four blocks.

"I thought our three seniors, Dietz, Tipton and Teal, played really well," Haaser said. "We've got three sophomores out there. They were a little jittery, but they'll come around. Getting that first game behind us, hopefully we'll get better from here."

For Southside, Hailey Hogue had 35 digs and Emily Bass finished with 15. Jenna Mullins had 15 assists as well.

Morrison finished with seven kills for the Lady Pointers. Van Buren travels to Alma on Thursday.