Perryville volleyball team falls to Dexter in district final

DEXTER, Mo. -- The Perryville volleyball team has been known to win big games when the pressure is on, especially when it's playing for the district championship.

Last year, the Pirates took Notre Dame to three sets before rallying to defeat the Bulldogs and claim their third straight district title.

However, second-seeded Perryville could not defend its district crown against top-seeded Dexter, which defeated the Pirates 21-25, 25-19, 25-23 in the Class 3 District 1 championship on Wednesday at the Bearcat Event Center.

"They're mentally tough and that was the difference in the game," Mirly said after the loss. "They have better athletes than we do, and they have more offensive weapons than we do. We had our experience and our mental toughness to fall back on, but their skill and their talent overcame us tonight, I thought."

The two teams were tied three times in the first set and neither team led by more than three points until the Pirates took a 16-12 lead.

"We had a comfortable lead there and even though the sets started off a little shaky, they got better," Mirly said. "It came down to the fact that we were able to find some holes in their defense and really exploit those, for a short time at least."

PerryvilleÂ’s Ahnie Hoff falls to the gym floor after serving into the net on DexterÂ’s game point in the third match of the Pirates Class 3 District 1 championship game against the Dexter Bearcats, Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2014, at the Bearcat Event Center in Dexter.

Kills by Perryville seniors Brooke Moll and Alex Spears extended the lead to 18-12.

Dexter answered with a kill by senior Jessica Lindsey, who also had a block to pull the Bearcats within four.

Ahnie Hoff, who had missed the Pirates regular-season finale against the Bearcats, came up big with a block. Perryville junior Brooke Hogard extended the Pirates lead during the following point with a one-handed solo block.

Mirly said it was nice to have Hoff and Hogard work well together in the middle.

"Brooke and Ahnie are warriors, I'm so glad I get to coach them again next year," Mirly said.

"Ahnie is our best blocker, so to get her back was huge for us. Brooke shows so much emotion for us, but in a good way. They were definitely the difference for us early on."

Two more blocks by Hogard, and a couple errors on the Bearcats gave Perryville the first set.

Hogard finished with 12 kills and seven blocks to lead the Pirates.

"The sets were amazing, and I couldn't have done it without my setters," Hogard said. "We're always talking to each other and letting each other know what's open. They made it possible for me to be able to hit those spots."

Perryville struggled to find the same holes in a shored-up Dexter defense in the second set.

Both teams remained within one point of each other early in the set until Dexter's blocking overpowered the Pirates.

A block by Lindsey and Shyann Jines followed by a couple errors on Perryville gave Dexter a 12-8 lead, which prompted Mirly to call a timeout.

Dexter coach Carmen Morgan said her teams defense was better than the offense for the first time all season.

"That's not usually the case," Morgan said. "Our blocks were strong in that set, but we also wanted to neutralize their best hitter [Hogard] after the first set, and we tried to stop that shot they were hitting to our setters defensive position. We know that if our blocks are set then our defense can play around it. The girls recognized it, and the back, especially, stepped up for us."

Perryville pulled within two at 16-14, but two consecutive kills by Lindsey and three straight errors on the Pirates extended the Bearcats lead to 21-14.

Jines had three more kills down the stretch, including the set point to force a final set.

"We made a lot of mistakes in that second set, but really we just got out-played," Mirly said. "The sets were there once again -- maybe the best I've seen out of them this year -- we just couldn't get them out of position on the defensive side. Obviously their double and triple blocking was great and they made adjustments in between sets to prevent us from hitting where we wanted to."

The two teams played to 13 ties and seven lead changes in the final set before Dexter took a 20-16 lead -- its largest of the set. But Perryville rallied with a 5-3 run to pull within two points. Perryville libero Libbi Schnurbusch made a diving one-handed save to keep the play alive before Hogard ripped a kill to cut the lead to 23-21 that prompted Morgan to call a timeout.

Moll came up with a big dig after the timeout, which she passed to Hoff, who finished off a kill.

Lindsey extended Dexter's lead to 24-22 with a kill, but Hoff had a kill on the ensuing point to pull the Pirates back within one.

Perryville's rally and season ended during the next point when Hoff's serve went into the net.

"I told the girls in the locker room that there are a lot of teams out here that are better than us talent-wise," Perryville senior and setter Brooke Moll said after the loss. "But we win big games and we've accomplished the goals that we have in the past because we play with our head and we play with our heart. We've always been known to battle back and that's what we did tonight, it just wasn't enough."

Perryville will lose seven seniors to graduation including Spears, who also had 12 kills for the Pirates. Hoff added six kills and three blocks, while Schnurbusch paced the Pirates with 15 digs. Kayla Buxton had 15 assists and nine digs.

Jines had 15 kills to lead Dexter and Lindsey added 13 kills.

"I thought both teams probably peaked tonight and that this was the best game we've played against a good team," Mirly said. "I'm extremely proud of the fight and effort we put up right to the very end. This wasn't the way we wanted to end the season, but there isn't one thing that I would look back on and say, 'If we had done that we would've won.' Dexter has built a great program and they were the better team."