Lady Bearcats survive hot start by Puxico

Dexter wins in straight sets despite falling behind in both

DEXTER -- The Dexter Lady Bearcats' volleyball team experienced a scare on Monday evening as the visiting Puxico Lady Indians got out to a hot start in the first set. Dexter began to warm up and shake off the cobwebs and eventually they cruised back into control to take the first set, and held off their tough opponent in the second set as well to win 25-23 and 25-23.

The first set saw the visitors jump out to an early 8-4 lead which progressed to a 15-7 lead before Cathryn Heil took over serving for the Lady Bearcats after a solid defensive play. The lead was cut to 15-11 while Heil was serving, due in part to Jessica Satterfield's play at the net.

Abbie Warren then took charge at the net for Dexter and what was a 17-12 lead for Puxico quickly became a 21-17 lead for the Lady Bearcats. From there the two squads battled back-and-forth until finally Dexter took charge and won 25-23.

In the second set, the Lady Indians once again jumped out early 6-3 before Dexter finally started cutting into the lead. A dump over the net from Heil once again struck a chord in the Lady Bearcats and they eventually tied the score 8-8.

Dexter's Brittany Bedford and Kayla Joyner then strung off a few points and eventually the Lady Bearcats pulled ahead 18-14.

Puxico fought hard until the final point, but in the end the net-play from the home team was too much for their opponent and they fended off a late rally to win 25-23.

Dexter head coach Kris Vandeven said that the Lady Bearcats had a slow start against Puxico.

"Although we played a little sluggish tonight, we are proud of the conference win," said Vandeven. "Puxico has really good, aggressive serves that gave our passing game quite a bit of trouble. Things just weren't clicking for us tonight, but we did just enough to pull off the win."

Heil also said that the squad got off on the wrong path to begin the night, but thought that her teammates pulled it together at the right time.

"I think they were scrappier than we thought they would be," said Heil. "But, we picked it up and played well together as a team. We picked up balls that we didn't expect. We worked well together to make sure that they got over."

"We were very unexpected of it," Heil said of Puxico jumping out to an early lead in both sets. "I think we did a good job of turning it around and making sure we did what we had to do to get the win."

Heil had six kills, one ace, 11 digs, three blocks and nine assists in the win. Satterfield recorded eight kills, two aces, four digs, three blocks and four assists and Warren finished with eight kills and five blocks.

Dexter is now 16-5-3 on the season and is 6-1 in the conference.

In junior varsity play the Lady Bearcats won in straight sets, 25-22 and 25-19.

Up next for Dexter is another home match tonight against the New Madrid County Central Lady Eagles.