Bell City advances to SCAA volleyball tourney final

ESSEX, Mo. -- Bell City got 21 kills from Jasmine Johnson and overcame a slow start to defeat Dexter in three games, 16-25, 25-21, 25-13, and advance to the championship match at the Stoddard County Activities Association's annual tournament Thursday at Richland High School.

Johnson was noticeably absent in the early going, but when the match was on the line, the sophomore hitter stepped up with eight kills in the third game to help deliver the win that propelled the tournament's No. 1 seed to the finals.

Bloomfield, the tournament's No. 2 seed, slipped past Puxico in the other varsity semifinal game, 25-22, 25-20. The championship match in the varsity bracket is set for 8 p.m. today.

"I could tell we hadn't played in two days," Bell City coach Erin Hoffman said, trying to explain her team's slow start. "That first game was pretty rough. I'm just glad to see that we've gotten to a point where we can come back, fight our way back into a game, no matter how bad we are playing, and be successful."

Dexter, the No. 4 seed and tournament's defending champion, appeared poised for the upset and a repeat run at the SCAA tournament title after finishing off the first game with a 5-1 run.

The second game was close from the first point, with the largest lead being two points until Bell City strung together three straight for a 20-16 advantage. Dexter never was able to overcome the deficit, but did make it a one-point game (21-22) on a kill by Abbie Warren and a block by the Dexter senior on Johnson.

Johnson responded with back-to-back kills and Dexter wasn't unable to control a hard serve by Alicia Slagley that proved to be the second-game winner.

Dexter was never really in the third game, falling behind 9-3 early after a 7-0 run by the Cubs. The Bearcats chipped away at the Cubs' advantage and made it a four-point game (16-12) before Bell City went on a 9-1 run to close out the match.

"Tonight's performance was bittersweet," Dexter coach Kris Vandeven said. "I'm proud of our defense for being top-notch tonight. I think the girls did a good job handling their powerful offense.

"We played one of the best sets we have played all season during the first set. In the second set, it was back and forth pretty much the whole game until the end and we just couldn't hang on. During the third, they got us down early and we couldn't ever recover. Bell City is a great team."