Sikeston netters shutout by Jackson

Volleyball team loses to Bernie; JV football rolls

SIKESTON -- The Sikeston girls tennis team got off to a rocky start Tuesday afternoon, falling to the Jackson Lady Indians 9-0.

"This was our first match and the girls were nervous," said Sikeston coach Lynne DeWitt. "We will build on today and look forward to Dexter today and Caruthersville on Thursday."

Varsity results were:

Singles

Erinne Haff (J) def. Jacarra Lampkin (S), 8-0

Alison Keiper (J) def. Caroline Murray (S), 8-0

Chealsea Jones (J) def. Erica Garrett (S), 8-0

Raechel Batz (J) def. Jessica Hutchcraft (S), 8-0

Maura Neader (J) def. Rachel Murphy (S), 8-0

Ashley Ptacek (J) def. Sarah Ruesler (S), 8-0

Doubles

Haff/Keiper (J) def. Lampkin-Murray (S), 8-0

Jones/Batz (J) def. Garrett-Hutchcraft (S), 8-0

Jade Freeman/Ashley Sneathen (J) def. Murphy/Ruesler (S), 8-0

Volleyball

Bernie 25, 25,

Sikeston 11, 15

BERNIE-- The Bernie Lady Mules varsity volleyball team defeated Sikeston's Lady Bulldogs 25-11, 25-15 in both team's season opener on Tuesday in Bernie.

Sikeston head coach Steve Beydler saw a lot of things to be pleased with, especially since his team is low in varsity experience.

"We have a young team in terms of experience at the varsity level," Beydler said. "We have some young girls and we have some seniors who are not particularly well seasoned due to the fact we had so many senior starters on last year's team. These girls are still trying to learn whose next to them and how to play together as a team."

Bernie cruised through the first set 25-11 but ran into stiff resistance from the Lady Bulldogs in the second set. Sikeston led the second set up until the 12-point mark when the Lady Mules went on a run to put the match out of reach.

"The second set of the match we led for 40 percent and then we let Bernie have a couple burst of points that took the wind out of our sails," Beydler said.

Leading the Lady Bulldogs offensively was Keyarra Blissett with four kills. Also recording kills for Sikeston were Madeline Davis (2), Vonteria Applewhite (2), Tyanne Townsend That has a lot to do with communication errors.(2), and a few other players with one kill. Mandy Moore led Sikeston with 10 assists.

"The Bernie match every year is a tough match," Beydler said. "It's a good benchmark for us. It doesn't define our season because I saw some really good things but I also saw some things we need to work on."

One of the things Beydler noted for the Lady Bulldogs to work on was serve receiving.

"We had quite a few serve receive errors today," said Beydler. "That has a lot to do with communication mistakes. That is to be expected out of a young team. Not to take anything away from our girls or Bernie, they (Bernie) are always a tough serving team."

Sikeston served the ball very well Tuesday, committing only four service errors.

"Our serving was pretty good tonight, we had a couple of errors, but we also had a few runs where we scored a couple of points at once," Beydler said.

Beydler feels "optimistic" about the rest of the season for the Lady Bulldogs.

"We have a lot to build on," he said.

Beydler was very happy with the way his team battled hard after dropping the first set of the match.

"I was pleased with the fact that we didn't get down on ourselves," he said. "That would have been easy to do playing a team like Bernie in Bernie, with all the atmosphere that that comes with. I think we did a really good job of maintaining a positive attitude throughout the match."

Beydler remarked that the team was very happy to get the season underway after nothing but practice.

"Every year the Bernie game gives us an opportunity to see where we are," Beydler said. "Having nothing but practice its nice to get in the gym with another team and the ref blowing the whistle."

In junior varsity action, Bernie defeated Sikeston 25-5, 25-13.

The junior varsity will compete in the Bernie junior varsity tournament beginning Thursday.

The varsity squad will be back in action Sept. 10 when Saxony Lutheran comes to Sikeston. That game will be at 6 p.m. at the field house.

JV Football

Sikeston 26, Dexter 6

DEXTER--The Sikeston junior varsity football team beat Dexter's junior varsity 26-6 Tuesday evening in Dexter.

Sikeston junior varsity coach Alan Scheeter was pleased with Tuesday's outcome.

"We hit hard," Scheeter said. "We blocked well and ran hard and played an overall pretty good game."

The Bulldogs jumped out early and never gave up the lead.

Sikeston first scored with 6:28 left in the first quarter on a five-yard touchdown run by running back Daryl Howard. The two-point conversion pass from quarterback Sam Erwin to Tanner Bryant brought the score to 8-0 Sikeston.

Sikeston scored again with 8:02 left in the second quarter on a 40-yard touchdown pass from Erwin to Bryant. The two-point conversion was failed.

The Bulldogs came right back at the Bearcats when Ray Clark's three-yard run with 6:18 left in the first half gave Sikeston another touchdown. Sikeston's field position on the drive was set up by a 55-yard run by Kyle Valentine. The two-point conversion attempt was failed. Sikeston lead Dexter 20-0 at halftime.

After a scoreless third quarter, Dexter got on the board with a 3-yard quarterback sneak with 6:30 left in the game to make the score 20-6.

Sikeston answered on a five yard touchdown run from Howard with 3:00 left in the game. That brought the game to its final mark of 26-6

Scheeter was particularly "proud" of the defense which caused four turnovers in the game.

Scheeter felt that Tuesday's win was a team effort across the board.

"My guys really played as a team," he said. "Several individual efforts add up to great team ball. We really put it all together."