Bloomfield showed up to the Poplar Bluff Senior High Gym a little nervous. It was the undefeated team's toughest test of the season and its nerves showed in the first game.
Steadily, those nerves settled and the Wildcats got better in Game 2 and better again in Game 3, eventually beating Poplar Bluff 23-25, 25-21, 25-16.
"With a team like that and they have big hitters, good libero, they just kept pushing on us and we kind of folded underneath it," Poplar Bluff coach Amanda Lance said.
Bloomfield's Jewell Chism led the Wildcats with seven aces and 12 kills. It was her on the service line late in the deciding game, putting down two aces to set up match point. Poplar Bluff was able to dig up her final serve but the receive went long and Cayla Mayberry won a joust at the net to seal the win.
"You can't ask for anything more, especially with our serving kind of so rough in the first set. To come back and get two big aces and then have a good pass and a good head on the end, that's what I love to see," Bloomfield coach Haley Silman said.
"We were a little nervous the first game. This is probably one of the toughest games we've had so far," Silman added. "So it was a good test that first set. I think they were a little nervous, a little tight, a little tense, and we just kind of relax and started playing our game."
Chism, who hits a jump serve, now has 16 aces through four games to lead the Wildcats. Her seven aces Thursday were a season-high for the senior.
After trailing early in Game 1, the Mules went on a 7-1 run and took their first lead on an ace by Haley Slaughter.
Neither team was able to create a three-point lead until Bloomfield was called for four hits to put Poplar Bluff ahead 19-16. Sophia Rowland followed that by scoring on a tip.
Chism drilled a pair of aces to get Bloomfield back within a point, but her chance to tie sailed wide of the court. Facing match point, Bailey Below scored a block to get the Wildcats within a point once more, but the following serve went long to give Poplar Bluff the win.
In Game 2, Bloomfield led 12-11 and then went on a 10-2 run to take a dominant lead. Poplar Bluff committed six errors along the way. Cayla Mayberry had a pair of points off a stuff at the net and a tip.
The Mules made a late rally and got within three points before Below's kill won it.
"Second set we just got down early and didn't really fight back until the end," Lance said.
Bloomfield took another step forward in Game 3. The Wildcats never trailed, but never led by more than five points until Creylee Huddleston's ace put Bloomfield ahead 21-15. It was the third point in a 7-1 run that closed out the night on a strong note.
"That shows they have a lot of heart and I think we're going to be good the rest of the season knowing that we can overcome a first set loss," Silman said. "I think the girls just got excited and volleyball is such momentum sport. We kind of got that momentum and we just rolled with."
Below finished with nine kills and had two aces. Mayberry got four kills.
Poplar Bluff (2-2), which starts four sophomores, had four aces and finished with an 89 serving percentage.
"It was definitely our little errors and once we started struggling we fell apart," Lance said.
Khelie Spence and Kiley Bess led the team with five kills each. Rowland and Hannah Vaughn both had four. Vaughn also had 17 assists.
Bloomfield (4-0) finished with 12 aces compared with 11 serving errors. Four of those errors were in the first game.
"We missed four serves in the first set and lost by two so that is always something there," Silman said. "One thing a coach always loves to see is the girls being able to overcome that."