Nothing clears out those first-match jitters like, well, a first match.
"You've got to get them out of the way, and that's what I told the girls, let that go and then we'll move on," Puxico coach Hannah Wight said.
The Indians and Poplar Bluff combined for 51 errors Aug. 22 in the season-opener for both teams. The Mules ended with fewer miscues, more kills and didn't miss a serve to win 25-16, 25-16 at the Senior High Gym.
"No missed serves, none. That doesn't happen very often," Mules coach Amanda Lance said. "They were pretty proud of that in the locker room.
"That's good. They're putting the ball in play."
Hannah Vaughn served up three aces, Kiley Bess added a pair and Ady Kingree chipped in one for the Mules.
"We have several good servers," Lance said. "They might not be the hardest servers but their ball floats. It just kind of moves just a little bit."
Along with the six aces, Puxico committed 10 serve-receive errors.
"Little bit of a communication problem but that's going to happen in your first game," Wight said. "You're going to have to work that out."
Wight said that while the team played in a jamboree scrimmage last Thursday, it's not the same as taking the court for a first match of the season.
"When you're in a jamboree they're really relaxed, it's really easy to make errors and things -- too relaxed almost," Wight said.
Lance said her team looked good warming up, "but when you add in every little aspect of the game, we kind of just need to smooth it out, kind of put the icing on the cake."
The Mules featured a balanced hitting attack with four players recording multiple kills. Khelie Spence led with four while Doni Everts, Bess and Rowland each recorded three. Haley Slaughter also had a kill while Vaughn recorded five assists.
Puxico was led in hitting by Faith Oliver's five kills.
The Mules jumped out to a 5-1 advantage to start the match but Puxico rallied to tie the match. Oliver got a block to keep a rally alive before Alivia Taylor's kill cut Poplar Bluff's lead to a point.
Neither team led by more than three before the Mules overcame a 10-8 deficit with a commanding 8-0 run with Bess serving. Puxico momentarily slowed the run with a kill by Oliver off a block but the Mules scored four points to lead 20-12 after a free-ball kill by Everts on a serve-receive error by the Indians.
"We just need to work on putting our skills with our mind," Wight said. "Our skills are there, we have that.
"Those are things we can fix."
Vaughn closed out the first game serving after Spence forced a sideout with a cross-court kill.
Oliver gave Puxico an early lead in the second game with a drive through a block while Katlyn Brotherton's ace later put the Indians back in front 6-5.
The Mules, however, scored the five points ending with an ace to the back corner by Kingree. A violation ended the run but Bess answered with a kill for an 11-7 lead.
Three straight errors, however, got Puxico back within a point and the Indians remained within striking distance until a 7-1 run allowed Poplar Bluff to pull away.
"We have everything we need, we just need to figure out how we put it together and how to make it work for our team," Lance said. "That just takes time. These girls have never played together so it's just getting everybody a feel for everybody."