Dexter stings Lady Hornets

Elisha Flanigan hits the ball past Advance's Cindy Simmers (28) in the first round of the Stoddard County volleyball tournament Monday night. Looking on is Dexter's Cathryn Heil (11) and Kayla Joyner (20). (Photos by David Jenkins, Staff)

DEXTER -- In their first round match-up of the 2008 Stoddard County tournament, the No. 2 seed Dexter Lady Bearcats took down the Advance Lady Hornets in straight sets of 25-20 and 25-9.

"Tonight was a nice way to start out the tournament," Dexter head coach Kris Vandeven said. "There are several tough teams in our tournament this year. We all seem to bring out the best in each other."

Dexter's Jessica Satterfield spikes the ball past Advance's Cindy Simmers (28) and Tess Wheetley (12) Monday night.

The first set was never separated by four points or more until late in the match when the Lady Bearcats steadily distanced themselves away for the win.

Advance found themselves looking up at the Lady Bearcats' 17-13 lead during the first set but was able to cut it to a one point deficit after a Dexter error and two consecutive points from Taylor Eggimann.

That was as close as the Lady Hornets would get.

After two errors, two points from Elisha Flanigan and two more points from Jessica Satterfield the Lady Bearcats took a commanding 23-16 lead. Advance was able to cut it back down to a 23-20 lead, but a combination of another Satterfield point and a serve receive error by the Lady Hornets ended the threat and won the set.

Dexter (19-5-3) continued that momentum right into the second set as they quickly jumped out to a seven point lead that just kept growing.

McKenzie Mitchell started the surge with a kill to make it 16-8 in favor of the Lady Bearcats. Three Advance errors, two Abbie Warren kills, two Brittany Bedford aces and one Satterfield kill later Dexter expanded their lead to 24-8. After a serve off the net from the Lady Bearcats, Cathryn Heil ended the match with her fourth kill of the night.

Warren led the charge with six kills and three blocks. Satterfield added five kills, one ace and 12 assists, while Heil had nine assists and three digs.

Bedford recorded three aces and five digs with Kayla Joyner chipped in with one kill and seven digs.

Dexter's next match will either be between Bernie or Woodland on Thursday at 8 p.m.

"Bernie and Woodland both gave us a challenge this season," Vandeven said. "Thursday will be a tough match either way."

If the seedings stay true, it will set up a championship game between the Lady Bearcats and the Bell City Lady Cubs. Bell City had gotten the best of Dexter already earlier in the season which is one of the reasons that the Lady Bearcats are looking forward to the potential match-up.

Bell City defeated Richland in the first round Monday night 25-8, 25-8. They will face the winner of Puxico and Bloomfield on Thursday night.

"Bell City is definitely one of the toughest teams in the area, much less in our conference," said Vandeven. "We've wanted another shot at them since we played them in the regular season."

Tuesday night's action will feature Puxico (4) v. Bloomfield (5) at 5 p.m. and Bernie (3) v. (6) Woodland at 7 p.m. In junior varsity action, Puxico (4) will take on Bernie (5) at 6 p.m. while Woodland (3) will take on Advance (6) at 8 p.m. Top-seeded Bloomfield and second-seeded Dexter both received byes into the semifinals on Thursday night.