PUXICO --Attempting to win a fourth straight MSHSAA Class 2 District 2 title felt like just another regular season road trip for the Bloomfield volleyball team.
"Something felt weird today," Bloomfield senior Kaley Roper said. "Like it don't feel like the district championship. We don't know, it just did not feel like it."
The Wildcats played like a title was on the line Tuesday night, using a 13-4 run to pull away in both sets to beat Woodland 25-17, 25-15 at Puxico High School.
"We didn't really put a lot of pressure on it," Bloomfield coach Haley Silman said. "I told them it's a game just like any other game. We've won in the past so lets just do it again, no different."
The top-seeded Wildcats (28-7-1) opened the night with a 25-16, 25-11 win over Clearwater in the semifinal then watched second-seeded Woodland top Scott City 25-12, 25-16.
The Cardinals (20-12-2) had their season ended by Bloomfield for a second straight year. Krista Rhodes led with nine kills while fellow senior Kelsie Long chipped in four along with junior Tiana Wiseman and sophomore Maddison Altenthal chipped in a pair.
"We had a good season," Cardinals coach Kacie Patton said. "I'm going to miss my seniors."
Bloomfield was led in hitting by junior Bailey Below who had 14 kills and nine digs. She scored seven of the first 10 points in the second set as the Wildcats jumped out to a 9-3 advantage.
"I always like feed her the ball," Silman said of the run. "We call her The Stud for that reason. I was just telling my assistant, you can tell when she gets up there she just rears back and someone is going to get hurt. That's what I feel like every time, I'm like Bailey is putting the ball down."
Below hit around and through Woodland blocks all night.
"You've got to give credit where credit is due, but I've got to tell you Bailey has a good setter," Patton said. "If you don't have a good setter you can't perform like that as a hitter."
Nicole Roper had 25 assists as Chism chipped in nine kills and Lilly Warrick added five for the Wildcats.
"Switching up our offense really helps against them," Roper said. "Just mixing it up, (there's) so many options."
Consecutive kills by Rhodes gave the Cardinals a 4-3 lead in the opening set. They led by two points on a pair of occasions before Mayberry's spike off a Woodland block on the sideline landed out of bounds. Chism later tied it at 8-all with a spike down the left sideline before consecutive kills by Below.
That was the start of Bloomfield's 13-4 run that turned a tight set into a 20-12 advantage for the Wildcats. The run ended with Below serving and Woodland's serve-receive dump landing long.
Long and Rhodes got consecutive points for the Cardinals before Rinacke and Wiseman teamed up for a block to cut Bloomfield's lead to 20-15. The ensuing serve, however, landed in the net and Bloomfield closed out the first set with three straight points.
Below's spike off a block landed out of bounds to give Bloomfield a 25-17 win.
"Just swing, go big," Chism said of attacking Woodland's blocks. "That's what worked with us all last time, we broke their blocks and got to them so we knew we could do it again."
Woodland took the opening set in the regular-season meeting in early September but lost 15-25, 25-17, 25-11.
Trying to force a third set Tuesday night, the Cardinals scored the first two points but Below broke a 3-all tie with consecutive drives off blocks. Chism followed with a drive and Below had a block for a point. Below's kill in the middle put the Wildcats up 9-3.
The Cardinals got consecutive points but the momentum didn't last as Below hit down the net and Chism followed a Woodland violation with another kill. Below and Chism had consecutive kills to push the lead to 16-7.
"They're very scrappy," Patton said. "Bloomfield just plays hard no matter who they're playing and that's why the win ballgames. They play hard and I commend them for that.
"Whether they make a mistake or not, they flat-out just play hard from Point 1 to Point 25."
Woodland got within 19-14 but the Wildcats closed with a 6-1 run to set off another championship celebration.
After losing to the eventual state champion in the sectional playoff last year and falling in the quarterfinal two years ago, the Wildcats look to return to the final four for the first time since 2014.
To get there they will have to travel to St. Louis and play the District 4 champion on Saturday.
"It will be interesting," Silman said. "Getting up really early for bus rides, that affects us. Hopefully they'll be up and ready to roll by the time we're ready to leave."
In the semifinal, Below had eight kills while Chism added six while Natalie Powell had 19 assists and Kaley Roper led with four aces and 11 digs.
Faith Hoppe led Clearwater with eight kills while Brianna Lawson had two and an ace with Halle Gooch had nine assists.
The Tigers finished 11-16-3 and will lose seniors Gooch, Brittany Adams and Dezarae Clinton.
"Like I told the girls, this is a good experience for next year. We want to be in the championship game next year," Clearwater coach Lisa Ayers said. "Hate to lose the three seniors I have."