SCAA: Dexter, Bell City battle in epic 5-set thriller

ESSEX – There is certainly no theme park being constructed in the Bootheel burg of Essex anytime soon (though the nice convenience store has been rebuilt after a fire earlier this year). However, any carnival ride wouldn’t do the emotional rollercoaster that took place on Wednesday in the gym of Richland High School any justice.

The volleyball squads of Dexter and Bell City battled – and did those two teams ever battle – in a five-set thriller with an opportunity to compete in the Stoddard County Athletic Association Tournament championship game at stake.

“A big message for us,” first-year Bearcat coach Haylee Orf said afterward, “a big motto for us has been ‘Calm and confident.’”

Her team needed every bit of that mantra, as Dexter survived the Cubs 25-13, 25-13, 24-26, 21-25, 15-9.

The Bearcats now face defending tournament champion, Advance, today at 8:30 p.m. in a rematch of last year’s championship game.

Midway through the evening, there weren’t very many people in the gym that felt Bell City was going to make a competitive match of this affair.

The Bearcats (16-10) throttled the Cubs in the opening set behind the great serving of junior Cali White, who turned a 12-13 Dexter deficit into a 21-13 advantage with nine straight service points before her team cruised to a win.

“Unfortunately,” Bell City coach Lori Meyer explained, “I screwed up.”

It turns out, Meyer wrote down the incorrect jersey number for a Cub player, who had worn a different number on “Pink Out Night” recently, so the Cub rotation was all out of whack.

“We did fight hard in that first game,” Meyer continued, “but we were just trying to work out the logistics on the court. Who was following who (and) who is taking what position, because we were all out of the right positions.”

The second set followed a similar script, as Bell City (18-9-2) trailed just 6-5 before Dexter tore off on a 10-1 run that gave Orf’s girls a 16-6 margin.

“We had a great first two sets,” Orf said. “I felt like we handled ourselves very well in doing a lot of things.”

That Bearcat mojo continued into the third set when Dexter took a 5-1 lead and most fans were envisioning an early night home following a Dexter sweep. However, Bell City senior Eliana Bowling had little interest in going home early.

Bowling proceeded to serve for 11 straight points, which put Bell City up 12-5.

“Eliana had been serving in the middle of the court,” Meyer explained. “Statistics show that you are actually a little bit better when you serve on the corners. So, we moved her to the corners and we have been working on being aggressive on serves on the sidelines.”

That Cub run wasn’t enough to put Dexter away, though.

With White serving, Dexter rallied back to tie the match at 13, and the two teams were still knotted at 23 before Bell City got the set win.

That in-match victory boosted the confidence of the Cub players, whose seven seniors had not beaten a Bearcat squad since the seventh grade.

“I asked the girls ‘How did they want to end today,’” Meyer said of the turnaround. Do you want to end it feeling defeated?

“That is not how you play the game.”

Bell City, which hasn’t beaten Dexter in a varsity match since 2010 (a streak of 15 matches), led 10-4 in the fourth set before senior Brooke Lasater went on a serving tear and pulled the Bearcats to within 10-9.

The two teams fought back-and-forth until Bowling’s serves put Bell City up 18-15 and that little bit of breathing room was enough to carry the Cubs to a 2-2 set tie.

“We have to learn how to keep our heads in the midst of chaos,” Orf said. “It gets very chaotic.”

In the final set, it appeared that Bowling was going to lift her team one final time, as her serving gave the Cubs a 7-4 lead, but trailing 9-8, Dexter sophomore Klaire Essner closed the night with seven straight service points.

“There was a lot of great volleyball from both sides of the court,” Orf said. “Bell City is a great team and they battled.”

The championship match will follow the third-place game, which pits Bell City against Woodland (12-17).

Those two teams have split matches this season, with the Cardinals winning a 3-1 decision in the season-opening Woodland Tournament, but the Cubs sweeping Woodland 3-0 last month in Marble Hill.

Wildcats win

Bloomfield won the SCAA Tournament consolation final on Thursday with a 3-1 victory over Bernie.

The Wildcats (15-14-4) earned SCAA wins over the Mules and Puxico, which snapped a four-game skid.

The Bloomfield victory was revenge after the Mules (17-10-1) had topped the Wildcats 3-2 earlier this month.