Bernie defeats Advance for fourth straight district championship

BELL CITY, Mo. -- Playing for a district championship is becoming an annual event for the Bernie volleyball team.

The Mules had won the previous three district titles, but had to overcome Advance to claim a fourth.

Top-seeded Bernie defeated the Hornets in each of the previous three meetings between the teams this season, and defended its district crown by defeating the second-seeded Hornets 25-21, 25-19 in the Class 1 District 2 championship Tuesday at Bell City High School.

"It's just so exciting and unreal to win a district title again," Bernie sophomore Morgan Baker said. "You work so hard in practice for this all year, and to get here and win and know that we're moving on to sectionals and have a shot at state is the best feeling ever."

With the win, the young Mules secured a spot in the Class 1 sectionals where they will play Bismarck on Saturday at Clarkton High School.

The Mules took a quick lead on the Hornets, who contributed to Bernie's success with unforced errors. Advance coach Dana Below said she was confident in her team after they had played an error free match against Bell City in a 25-20, 25-20 district win on Monday.

The Hornets opened the set with a serve that sailed out of bounds, then hit two consecutive balls out of bounds.

Advance tied it at 7-7 and 10-10 before the Mules pulled away.

Bernie middle hitter Kaylie Tanner broke out for two straight kills to give the Mules a 12-10 lead, before two errors on Advance forced Below to call a timeout.

Advance head coach Dana Below directs her team from the sideline during the Hornets Class 1 District 2 championship game against the Bernie Mules, Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2014, in Bell City. Bernie won 2-0. (Laura Simon)

"She's definitely our go-to hitter," Hoffman said about Tanner. "My setter feels very confident going to her, as well as the team, and knows that she'll do something with it even if it's not a straight down kill. She can also get up high and get some blocks, which she showed tonight."

Bernie went on a 4-0 run after the timeout to go up 18-10 on the Hornets. Tanner had two more kills and a block during that span to lead the Mules.

But the Hornets rallied to within two points at 22-20 after a 10-4 run, thanks in part to a couple Bernie errors and kills by Brylee Morse and Krystal James. But Advance never regained the lead, and Bernie won the opening set.

"Bernie blocked well and really attacked our middles on their block," Below said. "I don't know if our sets were a little close to the net or what it was, but we struggled with that, and at times I thought those good blocks made us try some things that really got us off our game."

Hoffman said it was the first fairly error-free set she had seen her team play in a long time.

"We've been focusing really hard on our blocking and ending those streaks of giving other teams half their points on unforced errors," Hoffman said. "In the last week and a half, errors have been our biggest concern, so to watch another team do it tonight was a good and different feeling. Those were our main focuses tonight and without them I'm not sure we would've seen a good outcome."

Advance built an early lead in the final set by jumping out to a 4-0 lead. However, a 7-3 run by the Mules quickly erased that. A block and a kill by Cayla Mayberry, followed by a service ace from Tanner gave Bernie a 10-7 advantage and the lead for good.

Below said her team stuck to its gameplan throughout the final set, but it wasn't enough to overcome Bernie's powerful atacking game.

"We were just outplayed," Below said. "There were probably some balls that we shouldn't have swung at, but I was proud of my team for sticking to what they knew. We kind of let up on our hard swings and played more tips in the second set, which I thought helped for awhile."

James laid down another kill, but the Mules scored the next six points to push the lead to 16-9. Mayberry had two more blocks in that span. Hoffman said it was nice to see her younger players set nerves aside in an important game.

"I'm very proud of Cayla," Hoffman said about Mayberry. "She's a freshman and she gets nervous before every game, almost to the point of throwing up before the game. She came off the bench and was very smart and powerful at the same time, and really helped us get some point streaks going."

Mayberry added another block and two more kills down the stretch. Tanner had two more kills and Baker secured Bernie's fourth straight district championship with a kill.

Krystal James led the Hornets with nine kills. Alanis Below added five and had two blocks. Kimsy Lillard had 20 digs to pace the Hornets, while Hannah Clark added 16.

Tanner paced the Mules with 12 kills and two blocks, while Mayberry added five blocks. Taylor Lovelady had 16 digs to lead Bernie.

"I told them before the game that they can't play the freshman sophomore-card anymore because they've played an entire season against juniors and seniors," Hoffman said about her young team. "I told them, 'You have to play like juniors and seniors,' and they did. They played like an experienced team tonight."