Jerry Jarrell photo A kill attempt by Dexter's Elisha Flanigan (No. 10) comes up short, as did the Lady Bearcats Thursday night at Bell City, where the Lady Cubs notched a, 25-20, 25-13, SCAA win. The victory puts the Lady Cubs in the league's driver seat with a 4-0 record, while the Lady 'Cats slipped to 4-1 in conference play.

It was typical Bell City volleyball, hustle, digs and just enough offense as the Lady Cubs soundly defeated Dexter, 25-20, 25-13, in a SCAA conference showdown.

Dexter appeared up for the challenge late in the first game as the Lady Bearcats battled back after being down by as many as nine points and made it a one-point game, 21-20, when Jessica Satterfield spiked a setter straight down.

Jerry Jarrell photo Bell City freshman Jasmine Johnson (No. 20) goes high in the air for a kill attempt during Bell City's, 25-20, 25-13, win at home over Dexter. Johnson only stands 5' 5" but plays much taller has she had seven kills in the first game against Dexter.

Dexter's momentum was quickly brought to halt on the next point as freshman Trish Slagley, made a diving save that seemed to catch the Dexter players off guard for a turn of fortune that pushed Bell City out front, 22-20.

A Dexter error on the next point, a kill by Jasmine Johnson, another freshman, and another error left the Lady Bearcats down one game, 25-20.

Bell City poured in on in the second game, aided by some unforced errors, pulling away for a quick 9-1 lead, and increasing it to as many as many as 13 (24-11), before a kill by Alicia Slagley brought a quick game to a end and left Bell City alone atop the SCAA standing at 4-0, 12-3-2 overall.

"These girls knew that tonight (Thursday) they needed to come out and attack, attack the whole night long," Bell City coach Erin Hoffman said. "Our defense is pretty good, it's our offense that's lacking, so we knew we had to come out and really work on getting our offense better."

The surprise for coach Hoffman in the first game was the 5' 5" Johnson, who knocked down a game-high seven kills and dominated a taller Dexter squad. She finished with nine kills for the match after not "going to her as much in the second game," according to Hoffman.

Bell City got 14 assists from Codie Lancaster to help generate some offense, and Sherilyn Long led the team with 17 digs.

"When you don't have a whole lot of height in your front row, you have to learn to play really good defense. I think this year, my Libero, Sherilyn Long, is just outstanding," Hoffman said of her senior. "And I think our defense.... well usually on defense you are just trying to get it up, but we've been getting it where it actually needs to be. And that gets everybody fired up when we can dig the other team's big hits."

Bell City neutralized Dexter's height advantage, and scored numerous points on soft push shots and second-hit winners to opening's in the Lady 'Cats defense.

"Needless to say, I'm disappointed in tonight's loss against Bell City," Dexter coach Kris Vandeven stated. "We expected them to be tough, but we just didn't bring our best game. We lacked fire and intensity, and that's what we've been struggling with throughout the season.

"If you're not getting fired up for a game and getting intense, then you're just not going to win," she continued. "Hopefully we'll meet up with the Bell City Cubs again in the conference tournament, and maybe the game will have a different outcome."

Many thought this could be a down year for the Lady Cubs, after a long run of success.

"I am surprised," Hoffman said of her team's success this season. "As we go from game to game, through, they are proving me wrong. Every athlete wants to show there coach, prove them wrong or something, which they are definitely doing, but we still have a long season ahead of us.

"Since these girls started with me in seventh grade, all I do is try to get them to prove me wrong," Hoffman added. "I'm always telling them 'well, you guys can't do this,' and then they prove me wrong. And they've been doing it again so far this season."

Bell City took control in the race for the SCAA regular-season title with the win, which improved its conference record to 4-0, 12-3-2, overall. Bell City doesn't have a junior varsity team this season.

The loss was the first for Dexter in SCAA play. The Lady Bearcats slipped to 4-1 in league play and 9-4-1 overall.

Bell City will be in action again tonight at Leopold, while Dexter will next see action this weekend at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro in the annual ASU Tournament.