SIKESTON -- The Comeback Kids they were not. Well, almost!
On Thursday at the Sikeston High School Field House, the Lady Bulldogs varsity volleyball team rallied from multiple deficits of four or more points before falling to Poplar Bluff in three games 17-25, 25-23, 21-25.
In danger of being swept at home, Sikeston dropped Game 1 and trailed 4-0 in Game 2 before the Lady Bulldogs came alive. Middle hitter Martika Davis, who had 16 kills and five blocks, unleashed an attack that sparked a pair of SHS rallies.
Sikeston's first comeback was a 9-2 scoring spree that turned the Lady Bulldogs' four-point deficit into a 9-6 lead. After outside hitter Mandy Moore produced a kill to put SHS on the scoreboard in Game 2, Davis blocked a Poplar Bluff attack before generating the next three kills to force a 6-all tie.
"Early-on, the girls were just going through the motions, but it was still a close, back-and-forth match," Sikeston coach Steve Beydler said. "And when Poplar Bluff started pulling ahead, I think the girls realized that they could quickly lose this match. It was just a lackluster performance that I thought might continue into Game 2."
A kill from Rachael Beydler gave Sikeston (4-5-1 overall) only its second lead of the match. The Lady Bulldogs, who led 4-3 in Game 1, played 48 consecutive points from either a tie situation or from behind. In Game 2, SHS built a 9-6 advantage on an ace from Alli Harper.
But just as fast as Sikeston generated its momentum, the court chemistry went away. Tori Williams produced four of her nine kills during a Lady Mules' rally that tied Game 2 at 13. And when Poplar Bluff teammates Jamie Fritts (11 kills) and Kim McDaniel (five kills) got involved, the Lady Bulldogs were staring at a 21-14 deficit.
"I yelled out to Rachel (Beydler), 'Get Martika in this game' because that's where we needed to pounding it away," coach Beydler said. "She's our go-to person when we need to score, and if she wasn't involved in the game, then she needed to be. That really got us fired up and going."
Re-enter Davis.
The Sikeston senior patrolled the midcourt with a vengeance after the words of inspiration from coach Beydler. When Beydler, at setter, fed Davis the ball, she began to hammer it down with authority. The result was another 9-2 rally that saw Davis account for seven SHS points on five kills and a pair of blocks and the Lady Bulldogs knotting Game 2 at 23.
With Sikeston serving to break the deadlock, a hitting error by Poplar Bluff put the Lady Bulldogs within one point of the Game 2-victory before Caitlyn Underwood's kill was the sealer. Underwood completed the match with five kills.
Seemingly with the momentum on its side again, Game 3 began awkwardly for Sikeston. Cierra Francisco served Poplar Bluff to a 6-0 lead with the aid of kills from Fritts, Williams and McDaniel. Even after the Lady Mules committed a hitting error to give SHS a point, McDaniel seized the opportunity to steal the Lady Bulldogs' energy by producing a kill for a 7-1 Poplar Bluff lead.
"I think Sikeston is a very evenly-matched team for us to play against," Poplar Bluff coach Suzie Ruppert said. "I wouldn't mind playing them a couple of times during the regular season because I think that both teams could learn a lot from each other."
After rallying twice in Game 2, the question was 'Did the Lady Bulldogs have another scoring spree left in them?' Slowly, Sikeston whittled its way back into the match, outscoring Poplar Bluff 18-11 during a 29-point span that tied Game 3 at 18.
Davis and Underwood led the Lady Bulldogs' charge with each hitter aggressively attacking the net. Of the next 18 Sikeston points, nine were scored on kills by Davis (six) and Underwood (three). The remaining nine points were tallied on unforced errors made by the Lady Mules (6-3-1 overall).
"We're struggling to define the right core of outside hitters," Beydler said. "I see glimpses of greatness out of everybody at times, but I'm not seeing the consistency we need to say this person is our outside hitter."
The difference in the match came during the final 10 points, when Fritts and McDaniel combined for four kills and a block. Consecutive kills from Grace Griffith and McDaniel led to Francisco's match-winning ace.
"After our loss to Bell City (19-25, 11-25) on Tuesday, we had a meeting in practice," Ruppert said. "We decided that we needed to play with more intensity, get fired up when the match is within reach. We're not going to let it slip through our fingers. Tonight, that intensity was very apparent."
Sikeston returns to the court Saturday at the Perryville Tournament.