Dexter, Bernie advance to SCAA volleyball finals

Note: 35 photos of Day 3 of the SCAA volleyball tournament are available in a photo gallery at this link: View Photos Here

BERNIE, Mo. - Nearby rivals will square off in the SCAA varsity volleyball tournament championship Friday night after securing semifinal victories in their respective matches Thursday.

The top-seeded Dexter Bearcats extended its winning streak to a baker's dozen with a 25-17, 25-19, semifinal win against the fourth-seeded Advance Hornets in the first varsity semifinal Thursday.

Third-seeded Bernie followed by pulling off the first upset in the varsity bracket with a come-from-behind 22-25, 25-22, 25-15, victory against the second-seeded Woodland Cardinals.

"That's was fun," Bernie coach Erin Hoffman said following the conclusion of play Thursday night. "Woodland is a great team and I feel like we are very evenly matched. The back-and-fourth competition and attitude on the court was great. It was one of those games that you live to coach. It was just a great game all-around."

Advance gave Dexter everything it wanted early in set 1 and for most of set 2.

Senior Ashtyn Hudson set the tone early when she tallied half of her team's first six points on kills to give Advance an early 6-2 lead.

Dexter quickly erased the deficit with a 5-1 run to tie the first set at 7-7 and later built leads of 14-10, 17-11 and 23-12.

Dexter doubled Advance 12-6 in set 2 before the Hornets rallied to move ahead 16-15.

Jessica Lindsey tallied three of her team's next five points on two blocks and a kill to give Dexter a 20-17 advantage.

Advance trimmed the deficit to 21-19, but the Bearcats tallied the final four points of the game.

"We didn't play well and Advance played well," Dexter coach Carmen Morgan said of the semifinal. "Advance brought their game, played hard and wanted it. We weren't focussed on the game. I felt like we were not reacting well. We did not pass well at all. That will hurt you. We got some good hits, but our passing ignites our offense."

Krystal James and Allie Below had three blocks for the Hornets.

Below calculated a team-high 14 assists and Kimsey Lillard led the Hornets' defense with eight digs.

Hudson had a team-high five kills. Grayson Miles and Maddie Kennedy added four more kills.

Lindsey tallied 12 of Dexter's 29 kills. Shyann Jines added nine more. Delaney Pullen had four kills for Dexter.

Alyssa Spear had a team-high 16 assists for the Bearcats. Ashley Brown led Dexter defensively with three digs.

DUSTIN WARD - dward@dailystatesman.com Bernie's No. 6 Kayli Tanner and No. 8 Megan Craft watch Woodland's Vanessa Wiseman set a ball Thursday night at the SCAA volleyball tournament.

Bernie and Woodland traded the lead four times in the first-set of their three-set thriller. Woodland's largest lead was three four times and Bernie's largest lead was 17-15.

The first set was tied 18-18 before kills by Josie Long and Shelby Sawyer gave the Cardinals a 20-18 lead. Woodland maintained a lead for the rest of the first set and tallied five of its final seven points on kills and the other two on Bernie attack errors.

Bernie rarely trailed after the first set.

Woodland's only lead in the second set was 3-2. A 9-0 run by Bernie put the Mules on top 11-3.

The Cardinals trailed19-10 before trimming the deficit to 21-20.

Bernie ended Woodland's charge when it scored the next two points on a kill and ace by Jordan Ellenburg. It later increased its lead to 24-20 when Woodland was called for a lift.

"When we get a good pass and give her the ball I have no worries she's going to do something with it," Hoffman said of Ellenburg. "Our setter is getting smarter as we go in clutch situations. She gave the ball to who she needed to give it to in clutch situations, which was Jordan and Jordan did something with it."

The final set was tied 7-7 before Bernie opened up a 19-11 lead. The Mules received kills from four different hitters during its 12-4 run.

"When you play a good team like Woodland that has good blockers if you have one hitter they are going to stay on that hitter all the time," Hoffman said. "So I really stressed to my setter to just mix it up tonight. I don't even want to know where the ball is going. I want her to be the only one that knows and have all of our hitters ready all the time."

Rachel Poole recorded two of the next three points with a kill and ace to trim the deficit to 19-14 and force a Bernie timeout.

Woodland recorded only one point after the timeout, allowing Bernie to secure a return trip to the conference tournament championship.

Advance will meet Woodland in the varsity third-place game Friday at 6 p.m. with the Bernie-Dexter title game to follow at approximately 8 p.m.

Hoffman hopes her players can fine-tune their skills a bit more Friday night at they attempt to defend their title.

"I definitely feel like everything needs to be just a little more perfected," Hoffman said. "Our passes were maybe just a foot-and-a-half too far off the net and our sets were maybe a foot-and-a-half too high and our hitters arm swings were a half of a second too slow. We are going to have to do all of that Friday night in order to be successful."

JUNIOR VARSITY BRACKET

Top-seeds will collide in the junior varsity championship Friday night at 7 p.m.

Top-seeded Dexter garnered its spot in the title game with a 25-22, 25-19, victory against fifth-seeded Woodland and second-seeded Bloomfield outlasted sixth-seeded Bernie 23-25, 25-16, 25-18, in the second semifinal Thursday.

"Both teams are going to play for first, Morgan said. "That's the good news. I always say 'we will take an ugly win any day over an ugly loss.' We hope to come out and look a little tougher and stronger on both ends of it Friday.

Notes: Woodland will play Bernie in the junior varsity third-place game Friday at 5 p.m.