Sikeston swept by Bloomfield, 25-14, 25-14

sports@standard-democrat.com

BLOOMFIELD -- Unable to find much momentum to counter Bloomfield's front court game, the Sikeston Lady Bulldogs fell to the hosting Lady Wildcats on Monday night in straight sets, 25-14, 25-14.

"We got out-played and out-hustled," Sikeston head coach Steve Beydler said. "After the big (Dig for Life this past weekend), we made a slight adjustment to our defense. The few times we executed it properly it did a real good job and did exactly what it was intended to do.

Sikeston's Sadera Williams (14) and Bloomfield's Lyndsey Young battle for the ball at the net ball Monday night at Bloomfield High School.

Sikeston's Sadera Williams (14) and Bloomfield's Lyndsey Young battle for the ball at the net ball Monday night at Bloomfield High School.

"We just didn't execute it properly very much."

Bloomfield (7-4-1) pulled away early in the first set thanks to an strong attack led by Lindsey Young and Courtney Delay that totaled 32 kills in the match.

Young total three kills in the first nine points alone while Delay served up three aces to help the Lady Wildcats pull away 8-3 in a set where they never trailed.

Sikeston's Sadera Williams (14) and Bloomfield's Lyndsey Young battle for the ball at the net ball Monday night at Bloomfield High School. (Brent Shipman, photo)

Sikeston's Sadera Williams (14) and Bloomfield's Lyndsey Young battle for the ball at the net ball Monday night at Bloomfield High School. (Brent Shipman, photo)

A two-point rally closed the Lady Bulldogs (2-7-1) back within three points, 8-5, but Bloomfield soon started to pull away again until taking a 18-10 advantage that forced Sikeston to call a timeout.

After splitting the next four points, the Lady Wildcats scored four-straight with a kill from Katie Tippen setting up game point. Sikeston took the next two points, including an ace by Jordan Crawford, before a missed serve closed out the set.

In battling to a 7-7 tie, the Lady Bulldogs came out much stronger to start the second set and they remained within three points when kill from Morgan Merrill made it 11-8.

Unfortunately for Sikeston, the next five points went to Bloomfield as they took an eight-point lead, 16-8. Three kills by Young during a 6-1 run shortly after put the game out of reach for the Lady Bulldogs and Delay closed the match out with back-to-back kills.

"We didn't get out of it so quick in the beginning (in the second set)," Beydler said. "We were in it longer before letting it get out of hand. Serve-receive was a big issue tonight. It was all over the place.

"It had nothing to do with adjustments made on defense it's just something that wasn't there tonight."

Of Bloomfield's 32 kills, a game-high 13 came from Young with Delay totaling 10 and Jewel Chism six. Young also had a 13 digs and a block in the contest while Delay finished with 16 assists and three aces.

Nicole Roper was second on the team with 13 assists and two aces.

On trying to block Young, Beydler said, "She has two things. First she can jump really high and secondly she'd left-handed. That always gives you a different look than what you're used to seeing. But we've played left-handers before. She was just above our block, our block was slow to develop and it wasn't time properly.

"When we did execute what we had shifted it worked well against her or anybody. It just wasn't executed very well, very often."

Esther Chinwuko led Sikeston with four kills.

Sikeston will host Jackson tonight at 6 p.m.