Bell City defeats Bernie, repeats as Class 1, District 1 champions

Bernie coach Jeff Rodgers feels his team let one get away this time against Bell City in a hard-fought, heartbreaking game.

"This one hurts," Rodgers said. "We had it in our grasp and it slipped away. We should have taken that first game. We had a six point lead or so and just got too conservative and tipped the ball. You can't do that to a team like Bell City and get away with it.

"We played well again in the second game and won it," Rodgers continued. " The third game we did what we have done several times this season. We let one server control the game and gave up several points in a row. We were down 16-6 at one point. We could have laid down, but these girls fought to the end and made a game of it. We are very proud of them for that.

" I knew that defense would win or lose our games this year and tonight (Tuesday) it definitely got us beat," he added. " Most of that had to do with Jasmine Johnson's incredible hitting. She may be the best freshman volleyball player I've ever seen.

"When we were down 22-16 we started playing incredible defense," Rodgers said. "If we would have done that earlier, it might have had a different outcome. Bell City is a gutsy team. They play great defense and in my opinion they have the best coach in Southeast Missouri. I've been through a lot with these seniors the last few years and it's going to be very tough to lose them. They had a great career here. They've had a record of 122-30-4 since the 7th grade. That will be hard to replace."

Krista Armbruster led the Lady Mules with nine kills, followed by Kristin Eaves with five kills and nine blocks. Sarah Deason was charted with a team-high 15 digs, while Sami Palmer had 17 assists.