BERNIE -- After letting a late second-game lead slip away Monday night, the Poplar Bluff volleyball team made certain it didn't happen again.
Bernie, which forced a decisive third game with an 11-1 rally, cut an eight-point deficit in half in the third. But kills by Danielle Farmer and Riley Sells turned the tide to give Poplar Bluff a 25-20, 20-25, 25-18 road win.
"In these games it was really all about momentum," Poplar Bluff senior Riley Greenwall said. "We definitely needed to get up right from the beginning. I felt we kept that pretty well through the third set."
Poplar Bluff (12-2) never trailed in the third game after scoring the first three points. Halle Huffman's kill to the back line opened the game before a hitting error by Bernie and Samantha Gatewood's kill down the left side.
Bernie (7-7) scored four of the next five points to tie the game on Ellen Snider's block of Sells. But a serve into the net gave Poplar Bluff the lead back and Farmer followed with a cross-court kill to start a five-point run that included three Bernie errors.
"We had a lot of unforced errors," Bernie coach Erin Hoffman said of the Mules' 28 for the match.
Poplar Bluff built an 18-10 lead before Bernie made a second comeback attempt in as many games. Chelsea Wagner's cross-court kill followed by consecutive kills by Snider off blocks helped cut the margin in half.
Farmer later stopped the run with a cross-court kill and Sells pounded a kill down the middle for a 21-15 lead. After Snider's spike landed just inside the back line, Farmer's hit off a Bernie block fell in and a hitting error gave Poplar Bluff a 23-16 lead. Kaylee Lewis later tipped a set over to give the Lady Mules match point.
"Our aggressive serves took control of the game, we controlled the tempo (and) got the blocks up," Poplar Bluff coach Mike Berry said. "Messed up a little but and then got right back at them attacking the ball."
Farmer led with seven of Poplar Bluff's 30 kills while Gatewood and Vaughn each had five. Sells chipped in four kills and a block. Farmer also had 10 digs and two aces while Lewis had 15 assists and Lauren Vaughn added 10.
Bernie's offense was led by Snider and Wagner with setter Kate Baker providing the assists.
"They started hitting and we weren't," Wagner said. "We let up on offense and they were coming after us."
The match started with nine lead changes and eight ties. Sells broke a tie at 16 when her drive landed in the right corner before three straight Bernie errors. Miranda Dunlap's kill put Poplar Bluff up 21-16 before Farmer's ace.
Bernie stopped the five-point run before Sells hit a drive down the right side and Dunlap later got a kill off a block for game point.
"We've really been focusing on communication," Greenwall said. "I think we really pulled it together there."
Poplar Bluff used a 7-2 run after Bernie pulled even at 8 on Jordan Ellneburg's kill. Greenwall started the run when her dump fell just inside the back line but Bernie made five errors during the run.
Down 17-11, Bernie rallied starting with a let serve that fell in and Wagner later served another ace inside the left line to pull the Mules even. A hitting error gave Bernie the lead and Snider later got a kill to cap an 11-1 rally.
Up 22-20, Bernie's Tori Lowrey blocked a tip from Poplar Bluff's setter then got a cross-court kill from the left side to give the Mules game point and force a third game.
"We just need to get a little more focused, work on some fundamentals a little bit more," Hoffman said, "but our leadership was there tonight, our communication was there.
"When we put it all together, it will be exciting."
Poplar Bluff won its seventh straight match and improved to 1-1 in matches that go the distance.
"It was a great match for us coming off a week of good opponents but not as strong as Bernie," Berry said. "We wanted to make sure we were on the right track and this was a good test for that."
Bernie won the junior varsity match 25-19, 25-13.