BENTONVILLE — Siloam Springs coach Rose Cheek says it’s hard to pinpoint how she feels with the postseason finally here.

The Lady Panthers are, of course, eager to begin the business of extending their state record with a sixth consecutive state volleyball championship.

But letting go of this senior class, Cheek says, isn’t something she is prepared to deal with.

“I have a lot of mixed emotions and the girls do, too,” says Cheek, the coach here since 1981. “We’re excited, certainly, but it’s also sad. We’re like a family. Not totally, but it’s pretty close.”

The Lady Panthers wrote one chapter of their goodbye act last week with a win against Vilonia on Senior Night.

The rest of the book will be written this week at the Class 5A State Tournament. The preliminary rounds begin today at Siloam Springs High School and run through the semifinals Thursday.

Championship matches for all classifications are scheduled Saturday at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro.

Siloam Springs (32-3) finished a 14-0 run through the 7A-West Conference with a 25-21, 25-10, 25-17 victory against Vilonia last Thursday. Two days earlier, the Lady Panthers clinched the league title with a five-game win (25-18, 25-22, 26-28, 23-25, 16-14) at Greenwood, last year’s league champion and the state runner-up to Siloam Springs for three consecutive years.

“It was a typical Siloam-Greenwood game,” Cheek says. “Back and forth, back and forth. To win it on their court, we felt good about it.”

Hannah Allison, one of the team’s seven “wonderful, wonderful” seniors honored, Cheek says, finished with 20 assists and nine kills against Vilonia. LizzyBriones led the team with 16 kills.

“It was hard for us to even play Game 1,” Cheek says. “I was crying, coach (Joellen) Wright was crying, girls were crying. We couldn’t hardly even get out of the locker room without someone saying something (to start) crying. I feel so fortunate and so blessed to be able to coach kids that love their teammates so much.”

The night’s most memorable moment, Cheek says, involved senior defensive specialist Meghan Kenney, who has missed the entire season after being injured at the start of the year.

She served game point in Game 2 and also match point.

“She came onto the court to a standing ovation when she went out to serve,” Cheek says. “She began crying, coach Wright and I are sitting there with tears; we told her and her parents we would do this for her. It couldn’t have ended any better for the kids.”

Opening ceremonies forthe state tournament start at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday with matches beginning at noon. Siloam Springs plays then against Little Rock Mills, the fourth seed from the 5ASoutheast.

Nettleton (East), LR Christian (Southwest) and Sylvan Hills (Southeast) are top seeds from the respective conferences.

Cheek says she’s looking forward to showing off the school’s volleyball facilities and its fan support.

“We are,” she says. “I’ve said it 100 times; I feel so fortunate to be at Siloam Springs and have the support from the administration, our student body and our fans. The fans just keep coming. It’s funny how people get hooked on (volleyball) once they see it.”

NOTES: Siloam Springs can move into a tie for second place in the state record books with Arkadelphia by winning its seventh state championship this week. Only Jonesboro (10) has more. … The first state volleyball champion recognized by the Arkansas Activities Association was Mountain Home in 1976. … There were two state championship classifications from 1977-1999 and three from 2000-2005. There are currently state volleyball tournaments for five classifications. … Siloam Springs’ seven seniors this year are Hannah Allison, Bailey Cox, Kelsey Frazier, Lauren Gay, Meghan Kenney, AnnaMarkovich and Staci Williamson.

Sports, Pages 16 on 10/25/2009

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