Sage Rankin was on her game Tuesday night.

So were her teammates.

Rankin had eight kills and six aces as Southside breezed to a three-set 25-17, 25-9, 25-13 win over Little Rock Central.

The Mavericks (13-6, 4-2) conclude the first round of 7A-Central play Thursday against Northside.

“It was a good win for us,” Southside coach Steve Haaser said. ” We got to play a lot of people, and they all did a very good job.”

Haaser substituted freely in the first set as the Mavericks pulled away behind the hot hand of Rankin. The senior had two early kills and a pair of aces, helping Southside to an early 8-3 lead. Carly Canada also played well in the first with a trio of kills.

Little Rock Central made a brief stand to close to within 13-10 before the Mavericks were able to pull away. Emily Bass started a clinching 12-7 run with an ace. Rankin’s ace made it 19-11, and Hailey Hogue followed with an ace.

Southside, which went 5-1 last weekend in Russellville, finishing second to Benton in the tournament finals, was clicking early in the second set. Two aces by Sarah Tolbert, two kills by Hannah Holland and a pair of Rankin aces helped the Mavs build a 10-1 lead.

Two more Rankin kills helped the Mavericks extend the lead to 19-6 in the second game.

Holland and Canada finished the scoring with a pair of kills.

“Little Rock Central continues to improve and they play hard and are very competitive,” Haaser said. ”(Little Rock Central) Coach (Doug) Stavey is doing a really good job with them. I don’t think the scores were indicative of the way they played.”

Holland led the Mavericks with 12 kills. Canada finished with six kills and Tobert had 20 assists.

Also for Southside, senior Madi Gould, juniors Montana Smith and Zoe Rogers and sophomore Lainey Logsdon played well.

The Mavericks travel to Northside on Thursday.
