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Bernie fights off young Puxico squad early en route to 3-1 SCAA volleyball victory
BERNIE — The young Puxico Indians gave Bernie fits for much of their SCAA volleyball match Thursday night at Bernie High School.
The Mules fell behind in the first two games before finishing strong to beat Puxico 28-26, 17-25, 25-17, 25-11.
Puxico starts three freshmen — Ziti Boyco, Laney Porter and Hanna Wilson — and a sophomore, Layla Thomas.
The Indians roster features only three upperclassmen.
“(Our freshmen’s) seventh-grade year, they didn't have one when it comes to volleyball,” Puxico coach Hannah Douglas said. “I think we played two games before we got shut down for COVID. So they're coming off an eighth-grade season and then (being pulled up) to the varsity level.”
The Indians displayed gritty play on defense, keeping long rallies alive with diving saves. They used the serve and strong play by their middle blockers to produce 12 points during the first two games: eight on service aces and four on blocks.
While their defense continued to excel over the final two games, their serving and block struggled in the third and fourth sets.
Douglas said her freshmen are learning different roles playing alongside the team’s senior and two juniors.
“We're trying to figure out what works for us as a team,” Douglas said. “I think that's where we get some inconsistency at times because we're just not confident … but we're building, we're building.”
Bernie had lost two of its three previous matches prior to Thursday’s match.
“We've been in a middle-of-the-season, three-game slump,” Bernie coach McKenzie Stevens said. “We've got a really hard schedule. We had a really good two days of practice. We did a lot of reps, a lot of good quality practice. I just told the girls I would have loved tonight to have been a three-set night, but it's still a lot better than we were last week.”
Dexter swept the Mules on Sept. 16 and Poplar Bluff swept them Monday.
The Indians built an 11-point lead (21-10) in the first game, but Bernie began eating away at the deficit and tied the score at 24 on a kill by Sierra Kirkpatrick.
“I don't like to be 11 points down but for them to come back and work (it) one (point) at a time and work together as a team, I'm proud of them for coming (back). That's a big hole to crawl out of,” Stevens said.
Bernie took its first lead of the match (25-24) on a service ace by Gracie Cluck. Chloey Foster’s service ace restored the Indians’ lead (26-25), but a hitting error by Puxico gave the Mules game point, which Eaton converted with a kill.
Eaton produced eight of her match-best 18 kills in the opening game. The senior middle added four blocks and three service aces.
“Offensively she gets after it,” Stevens said. “She wants every ball. She doesn't make a lot of errors. We can count on her when we need her in big moments, and she's done that for us this season.”
Liz King had four of her game-high eight kills in the opening set.
Puxico never trailed in the second game, scoring the set’s first four points. The Mules sliced the lead to one twice (4-3 and 5-4) before Puxico scored five straight behind the serve of Porter, who delivered three aces to give the visitors a 10-4 lead.
Porter performed well all around against Bernie, producing four kills, three blocks and four service aces.
The Mules never came closer than five points of the lead the rest of the way.
Bernie opened the third game with a 4-0 run, fueled by a pair of kills by Piper Schoemehl and a service ace by Kirkpatrick.
Schoemehl finished with 13 kills, including seven in the third game.
The Indians tied the score four times (at 5, 6, 7, 9 and 10) before Bernie strung together a 10-1 run to take control. Schoemehl had three kills during that stretch.
Puxico fought off three game points before Schoemehl’s kill ended the set.
The Indians led only briefly in the fourth game — 1-0 on a kill by Porter. The score was tied twice before Bernie went ahead to stay (3-2) on a hitting error by the Indians.
The Mules used runs of 10-2 and 6-1 to close out the match. A service ace by Eaton set up match point, and Kirkpatrick’s kill ended the match.
Bernie (8-3, 2-2 SCAA) will face Bell City at 6 p.m. Friday in Bell City. Puxico will host Zalma at 6 p.m. Friday.