Sikeston eases past Malden in two sets to continue winning streak

SIKESTON -- The Sikeston volleyball team primarily worked on two things during Wednesday's practice. Hitting and passing.

The extra reps paid off in a big way Thursday night with a dominating two-set win over visiting Malden, 25-15 and 25-17, at the Sikeston Field House.

The Bulldogs never trailed dominating at the net and rarely committing errors.

Sikeston's Zaria Blissett tries to block a kill attempt of Malden's Madi Earnheart Thursday, Sept. 22, 2016, at the Sikeston Field House.

Sikeston's Zaria Blissett tries to block a kill attempt of Malden's Madi Earnheart Thursday, Sept. 22, 2016, at the Sikeston Field House.

"I'm very pleased overall how we did," Sikeston coach Steve Beydler said. "Whatever we did aggressively was really throwing Malden out of their sync. But, a lot of that was our aggressive play."

Sikeston (9-7) took charge at the net with hitters Olivia Nash, Morgan Poindexter and Zaria Blissett. The three led the Bulldogs in kills and were tough for Malden to hit around while blocking.

"They were really on," Sikeston libero Ali Enax said. "I was really pleased with them because we told them to get a bunch of kills tonight. They were like, 'We will get kills.' They brought it tonight."

Nash had eight kills and two blocks. Poindexter had five kills and Blissett added four kills and three blocks.

Sikeston's prowess at the net was nice for Beydler to see. One of the reasons hitting and passing were exclusively on the practice docket was to get their defenders, setter and hitters more in tune.

"We concentrated on a lot of setter-hitter communication trying to get them in sync. That's been one of our bigger issues recently. We had very few errors and they were aggressively hitting it hard."

Sikeston's setter, Annie Ensor, finished with 20 assists. Their back row allowed the junior to give hitters ample chances.

Sikeston's Zaria Blissett (19) is congratulated by teammates Annie Ensor (3), Ali Enax (32) and Morgan Merrill (6) after a kill against Malden Thursday, Sept. 22, 2016, at the Sikeston Field House.

Sikeston's Zaria Blissett (19) is congratulated by teammates Annie Ensor (3), Ali Enax (32) and Morgan Merrill (6) after a kill against Malden Thursday, Sept. 22, 2016, at the Sikeston Field House.

"Our serve-receive, with the exception of a handful was right on the money," said Beydler. "It gave Annie a lot of opportunities. We made her job easier and I'm sure she appreciates that."

Ensor led Sikeston to a 5-0 advantage to start the first set. She served two aces during that stretch as well as setting up Nash and Poindexter for kills.

Sikeston surged ahead by as many as eight points before Malden (10-5-2) called a time out.

"We were just super aggressive, talked a lot which is a major key for us," Enax said. "If we don't talk we play awful. We were having fun really."

The Bulldogs went ahead by as much as 11 before closing out the set on a 5-2 run for the 25-15 win.

Sikeston started the second set better than the first. Ensor served her team to a 7-0 lead with one ace. Malden scored the next four points but that was as close as they would come.

If there was one area Sikeston struggled it was serving. They had six serving errors in the second set compared to just one in the first. Their sixth off serve made it 18-13.

"I was a little displeased with our serving in the second set," Beydler said. "In a tighter match it could have been a huge difference."

Sikeston will travel to Meadow Heights on Monday. They've now won four matches in a row which is their longest winning streak of the year.

"I think we're on an upward trend," Enax said. "We're getting better and better. It's that time in the season."