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Portageville claims second-straight title with win over NMCC
PORTAGEVILLE -- The Portageville Lady Bulldogs were fortunate to have played its semifinal match first.
Top-seeded Portageville took care of South Pemiscot in two sets during the first match of the Class 2, District 1 semifinal round Tuesday and then took it easy on the sidelines.
Portageville watched as New Madrid County Central forced three sets against Malden which gave them plenty of time to catch a breather and get pumped up to go back out on the court nearly two hours later.
"I think we were so fired up about being in the championship again," Portageville's Brittany Bessenger said. "New Madrid's one of our rivals and everyone was here to support us. It was just really good."
Portageville (28-4-1) used that extra time and a raucous crowd to feed off of for a 25-13, 25-20 victory over NMCC. It's Portageville's second consecutive district championship.
"We were kind of a surprise last year to win districts," Portageville head coach Barry Branscum said. "This year, we felt like we were the team that was supposed to win it which brought some different challenges for us. I can't tell you how mature our kids have gotten."
Bessenger helped her squad to a big advantage right out of the gate in the first set. The senior scored the first point of the match with a thunderous kill which set the tone of the remainder of the match.
Bessenger had three kills while Sasha Starnes and Caroline Samples chipped in a few more during Portageville's 15-5 run to start the game. Another Starnes kill gave Portageville an 18-8 lead and eventually, Bessinger hammered another down for a 21-10 advantage. They ended the set with a 4-2 run to take game one.
"We really wanted to focus on hitting," Bessenger said. "If we needed to tip hopefully we tipped it to a good spot. We focused on getting one point at a time."
Portageville's attack was slightly different than what they had done all season. They tried picking up the pace to catch NMCC off guard. Samples and Bessenger were major benefactors.
"Caroline in that first set was on fire with attacks," said Branscum. "We were running a new offense that was a little quicker that we don't normally do. The setters were doing a great job of getting Brittany and Caroline the ball. All of our hitters were doing a good job of seeing the floor and where the holes were."
Slow starts have been a thorn in NMCC's side all year. The combination of Portageville's furious rallies and the Lady Eagles' woes wasn't a good combination.
"I think we're the type that just gets nervous," NMCC head coach Diane Fowler said. "We're a team that starts five or six points behind in the first set and we've done that all year long. We play tight and it's hard to get these girls to relax. They tried to pull themselves out of it."
It was the second time these two teams have met this season with Portageville winning three of the four sets against NMCC. The Lady Eagles split with Portageville during the opening round of the Gideon Invitational Tournament Sept. 18.
"We've played with them before but we had to play well tonight," Fowler said. "I told them it wasn't going to be easy."
The second set didn't start out as successful as the first for Portageville. They found themselves down 7-3 at one point mimicking a small problem Portageville has faced all season long.
"We come out and play on fire the first set and then it's almost like a little bit of a letdown in the second set," Branscum said. "That's kind of been our M-O all year."
NMCC (16-14-3) was steadily holding on to a three-point lead and looked to go up four points until their ninth point of the set was erased. There was an error in the Lady Eagles' serving rotation giving Portageville a point. NMCC's momentum quickly finished and so did their lead. After tying the game at 11-all, Portageville soon took control.
"We're just not that smooth yet," Fowler said. "We'll have some breakdowns that will really hurt you. Our girls just aren't that confident yet in what they do."
Back to back kills from Sophomore Kyra Nelson inched NMCC back to within 18-17 and then a few errors on Portageville's side tied the set at 19-all. But the Lady Bulldogs pulled off a 6-1 run to end the match.
"Coach always tells us that the second set is the hardest to win," Bessenger said. "We just really had to focus and get the lead again. We've been practicing 24/7 for this. We have to push all the time and we have to talk a lot."
NMCC defeated Malden 22-25, 25-22 and 25-17 to advance to the title game just before the championship match. The Lady Eagles will graduate four seniors but return a host of players who took part in Tuesday district tournament, which Fowler sees as an important step for the future.
"Our team next year should be stronger," Fowler said. "Hopefully we're leaving it in a good position. We've come a long way and they've gotten so much better than the first of the season."
Portageville will play the winner of District 3 which will conclude tonight between Valle, Clearwater, Arcadia Valley or Jefferson. The sectional game will be played at Portageville High School with the time not yet determined.
They lost to McKinley in two sets last season but graduated just one from that team.
"We want more," Branscum said about this year's sectional matchup. "We played with a little chip on our shoulder this year feeling like we weren't recognized as much as we could have been. They all bought in to our system the last couple of years and I think that's why they've had so much success."