Advance delivers first upset with victory over Woodland

Woodland's Lauren Johnson, while Becky Brannon makes a diving attempt at a save during SCAA varsity tournament action Tuesday at Dexter High School. Number 3 Bernie held on to defeat No. 6 Woodland, 25-20, 25-23.

There will be a break in SCAA tournament action tonight at Dexter High School, and it's probably a good idea to let things cool off after Tuesday's play produced four hotly contested matches that included the tournament's first upset.

Advance's No. 6 Lady Hornets defeated No. 3 Woodland, 26-24, 26-24, in junior varsity play to produce the tournament's first surprise, while the evening's other three matches went according to form ... but not without a fight.

Number four Puxico needed three games to subdue No. 5 Bernie, 25-23, 19-25, 26-24, in the other jayvee matchup, while on the varsity side, No. 4 Puxico beat back the challenge of No. 5 Bloomfield, 25-13, 26-24, and No. 3 Bernie slipped past No. 6 Woodland, 25-20, 25-23.

Bernie's Bailey Martin (No. 12) blocks a kill attempt

Tournament action will resume Thursday with semifinal play in both brackets. Jayvee play will get underway when top-seed Bloomfield will take on Puxico at 5 p.m., while the other semifinal jayvee contest between No. 2 Dexter and No. 6 Advance will be played at 7 o'clock. Before that game, the first varsity semifinal game will be played between No. 1 Bell City and No. 4 Puxico at 6 p. m., while the clash between No. 2 Dexter and No. 3 Bernie at 8 p. m. will set the varsity's championship pairing.

Tuesday's play demonstrated how balanced and competitive the SCAA is, with the possible exception of Bell City on the varsity side where the Lady Cubs are the clear favorites. The best of the evening could have been the 3-game Puxico-Bernie shoot-out on the jayvee side.

"That was a tough game for those girls to lose," Bernie coach Jeff Rodgers said of his jayvee squad. " I feel bad for them. Although we made several silly mistakes that cost us, we played hard and we wanted to win.

"The third game we were down 17-9 when I called my last time out," Rodgers continued. "We preceded to score 13 straight points to take a 21-17 lead. They showed a lot of heart to do that and we're proud of them for that. Carissa Cluck, our Libero, played on heck of a game. She had 32 digs with only one error, did a great job on serve receive, and had 5 aces. She was outstanding tonight (Tuesday)."

Cluck's 32 digs were a season-high for the freshman.

On the varsity side, Puxico opened play with a strong effort to take a 25-13 win in Game 1 over Bloomfield, before the Lady Wildcats dug in and almost sent the match to three games before losing Game 2, 26-24.

Bernie also got a scare from Woodland in the other varsity game before securing the win and advancing to the semifinals and a date with the Dexter Lady Bearcats.

"We hit the ball well tonight (Tuesday) with 25 kills and only 6 errors," Rodgers commented. "We attacked the ball intelligently and that's what won the game for us. Our poor serving almost cost us. If we miss that many against Dexter Thursday night, we'll be in trouble. Kristin Eaves (11 kills) and Krista Armbruster (7 kills) hit the ball well. Sarah Deason (Libero) also did a good job on defense. Woodland's a good team and have been playing really well lately."

Deason finished with a team-high 16 digs while Sami Palmer led the Lady Mules with 20 assists.