PIEDMONT -- As the MSHSAA Class 2 District 2 Tournament got underway at Clearwater High School, the Bloomfield Wildcats announced their presence in a convincing manner.
Led by senior middle hitter Bailey Below, the second-seeded Wildcats were firing on all cylinders and took care of business as they defeated the seventh-seeded Puxico Indians in straight sets (25-11, 25-13) to advance to Tuesday's semifinal. The win marked the third sweep of Puxico this season by Bloomfield.
"I was proud of them," Bloomfield coach Haley Silman said of her team's performance. "We played together. We had fun with it. You could tell they were having fun with it, which is always a plus."
Below led the team with 7 kills, six block kills and a service ace in a steady performance by the senior.
"(Below) is just such a good all-around player," Silman said. "She reads the floor well. She helps her other teammates read the floor well. I was just very proud of her. She kind of stepped up and was putting the ball down when we needed her to."
Added Below, "I do try to help as much as I can. I try to push myself to be better than I was the last game, and I try to help everyone else out and lift everyone else up."
The opening set began with runs from both teams. Bloomfield (13-15-1) got out to a 5-1 start when Below earned a pair of early kills, and freshman Molly Below pitched in one of her own. The run was aided by two consecutive contact calls against the Indians.
Puxico (5-15-1) battled back to tie the score on multiple occasions. An attacking error from the Wildcats tied the set at 5. The two teams traded points to even the score at six courtesy of errors from both sides.
Senior outside hitter Lilly Warrick snuck a kill just inside the opposite sideline to break the tie and put Bloomfield in front for good. The kill sparked a 7-0 run for Bloomfield. An ace from Molly Below and a kill from junior middle hitter Eva Hester capped the run, making the score 13-6. Puxico scored three of the next four points to trim the deficit, but Bloomfield ran away with the set immediately after.
A block from Bailey Below capped a 10-0 run from the Wildcats, and soon after, she put the finishing touches on the set with a kill down the middle of the defense.
"They played relaxed, which was good because sometimes, coming into districts, teams can get tight," Silman said. "We just sat back and played our game, so I was very, very happy with it."
The second set featured more of the same. The Wildcats again pounced on a 5-1 lead with the help of service aces from senior setter Creylee Huddleston and freshman libero Karsynn Phillips. The Indians got their point from a Bailey Below attacking error that sailed to the far wall.
Puxico bounced back to even the score at 5 behind two kills from Sophia Hancock and an ace from Brittany Croy. Bailey Below put the Wildcats back in front for good with back-to-back kills, including some nice reflexes to react to a ball that just barely snuck over the net to follow up a kill down the left sideline.
"It's a good confidence booster," Bailey said. "It helps us work on the little things and work on quick sets and fast stuff. It helps us work more as a team and get really pumped up."
That sequence sparked a 12-2 run for the Wildcats, putting them in the driver's seat the rest of the way.
"I think nerves got us, truthfully," Puxico coach Hannah Wight said. "I think we had a hard time coming back from mental blockage. We would have some communication errors ... I felt like we had a hard time coming back from that. ... Times are going to be tough, but you have to find a way to push through that."
Molly Below did some impressive work in the midst of the run. She earned a kill and served back-to-back aces to boost the lead for Bloomfield.
Bailey Below wrapped a bow on the match, though. She teamed with Molly on a block to put the Wildcats at match point, and she delivered an ace to send her team to the semifinals, awaiting the winner of Greenville and Woodland, the final match on the night's schedule.
"(The win) helps boost moral," Silman said. "It's good to come out with an easier win, you know. We didn't have to struggle, so that's always a good booster for us coming into tomorrow night."
Woodland 2, Greenville 0 (25-17, 25-13)
Woodland (17-11-3) opened the match by scoring points in bunches, while Greenville (6-13-6) was unable to put together runs of equal length.
Freshman Addie Johnson went on a personal 3-0 run with a trio of service aces to put the Cardinals in front 14-9.
After some back-and-forth action early that saw Woodland keeping the Bears at an arm's length, the Cardinals pulled away with a 9-3 run late in the set to put to give themselves seven chances at set point with a 24-17 lead. Two points from the Bears prolonged the inevitable, and senior Tiana Wiseman stamped and sealed the set with an emphatic kill down the middle of the defense.
The Cardinals carried that momentum into the second set. With the score sitting at 9-6 in favor of Woodland, the Cardinals erupted with a 15-5 run, during which junior Maddison Altenthal put her fingerprints all over the set. She had six kills and two blocks as part of the run. Wiseman finished off the match by tapping a kill just over the net, finding a gap in the defense like she had done for much of the night. Wiseman finished with eight kills.
Clearwater 2, Scott City 0 (26-24, 25-15)
Despite a 2-0 sweep being the result, the match could've gone either way for much of the night.
Fourth-seeded Scott City looked to have control early as Jersey Black earned a kill to cap a 9-1 run for the Rams as they led 12-5. A 12-3 burst from the Tigers put them in front 16-15. Scott City responded with a 5-1 run behind two kills from Heather Conaway and a kill from Chloe Clayton. A kill from Brianna Lawson and an ace from Elizabeth Gronski gave the Tigers the lead once again. An ace from Rachel Rowold and a kill from senior Faith Hoppe gave Fifth-seeded Clearwater a 26-24 win in a set that saw 11 lead changes.
A close start to the final set quickly spiraled into a convincing win for Clearwater (13-15). With Scott City (13-12-2) leading 8-6, an attack error from the Rams sparked a 7-0 Tigers run, capped off by a kill from outside hitter Laci Brown.
The match had the look of one that was going in Clearwater's favor as Hoppe dove to the ground and flung out her arm, striking the ball and causing it to fall in the empty spot of the Scott City defense for a point, making the score 20-13 down the stretch.
Gronski earned an ace a few points later to put Clearwater on match point, and an attack error sailed wide for the Rams, ending the match and advancing the Tigers.