Jerry Jarrell photo Dexter's Jessica Satterfield (No. 7) reacts at the net during an exchange with Poplar Bluff's Jamie Fritts during Thursday's 22-25, 25-18, 25-19, win on the road by the Lady Bearcats.

For the third-straight match, Dexter High School has fallen behind early but managed to rally back to take the win, this time against Poplar Bluff in three, 22-25, 25-18, 25-19, Thursday on the road.

Dexter appeared to be headed for yet another disappointing loss after blowing a 21-15 lead and watching the Lady Mules finish on a10-1 run to take Game 1 and get the home crowd revved up.

Game 2 saw both teams elevate the level of play with the teams' tied three times early before Dexter took the lead for good at 10-9 when Cathryn Heil pushed the ball down the line to spark a 3-point run and a 12-9 advantage. Poplar Bluff cut the lead to two twice ( 16-14 and 17-15) but a no-look second-hit dink by Jessica Satterfield, an across the line violation by the Mules and a hard kill by Heil tied the match at a game apiece, 28-15.

Game 3 was almost identical to Game 2 with both teams locked up in a back and forth score. Tied at 7-all, Dexter used back-to-back kills by Heil and Abbie Warren, followed by a service winner from Brittany Bedford, to forge a slim 12-9 lead.

From there, Poplar Bluff would be in catch-up mode, managing to tie the game at 12-all on a kill by Jamie Fritts, but the Lady Mules were never able to wrestle the lead from the Lady 'Cats. The Lady Mules did manage to cut the lead to one at 17-16, but Dexter would finish on a 8-3 run to take the win.

"Tonight (Thursday) was another example of how we've been starting out games slow, getting our backs against the wall, and then having to scratch back," Dexter coach Kris Vandeven said. "Our serving game really hurt us. It seemed like every time we would get a string of points, we would miss a serve and lose our momentum. We still need to get focused and get our kinks ironed out so we can be competitive in the conference tournament next week.

Satterfield (7 digs, 8 assists, 3 blocks) stepped up big for the Lady 'Cats with a season-high 14 kills, while Heil added eight put-downs, seven digs, two blocks and 12 assists.

Elisha Flanigan served up six aces to go along with three kills, four digs and two blocks, while Abbie Warren was charted with six kills, two digs, four blocks and two assists. Bedford added two aces and 11 digs to the winning effort, while Kayla Joyner was credited with one ace, five digs, two assists and McKenzie Mitchell contributed two kills, four digs, one block and one assist on the night.

Dexter's junior varsity team opened the night with a 25-22, 25-21 victory to improve to 15-2-2 overall, 5-1 in SCAA play.

Dexter's varsity team improved to 18-5-3 and 6-1.

Dexter will next be in action Monday when the Lady Bearcats will host the SCAA Tournament. The varsity team is seeded No. 2 behind Bell City while the jayvee bracket as Bloomfield as the top seed, followed by Dexter.

Bloomfield sweeps Bernie

BERNIE -- Bernie's six-game winning streak came to an end Thursday at home as the Bloomfield Lady Wildcats posted a 25-19, 27-25 SCAA win.

"This was a case of us just over looking a team," Bernie coach Jeff Rodgers said of the varsity match. "When I look at the stats, no one played very well. Bloomfield just simply outplayed us.

"When the score is 25-25 and you miss the serve, you're probably not going to win," Rodgers continued. "You probably don't deserve to win. Jessie White (of Bloomfield) really hurt us the first game with her serving. We played better the second game but we didn't dig the ball very well. If we don't play defense, we're not going to beat a good team."

In the jayvee contest, Bloomfield, the No. 1 seed in the upcoming SCAA tournament, looked impressive in a 25-21, 25-13, win over Bernie.

"The jayvee played a very strong first game," Rodgers commented. " We had the lead late, and after Bloomfield called a timeout, we preceded to pass about four balls way off target. Their hitters did a better job than ours also. They're a very strong team, I'll be surprised if they lose a game all year."

Bernie's varsity team slipped to 13-11-1 overall while the jayvee squad now stands at 12-9-1.

Bernie will be in action again tonight when it will host Richland in a clash of SCAA teams.