DEXTER -- In practice this week, Dexter worked on aggressive net play and taking care of balls that were out of system. The former showed itself in the opening points and the latter showed itself in the closing points.
Dexter controlled the net and took advantage of Poplar Bluff passing errors to win 25-11, 25-11 on Thursday at the Bearcat Events Center.
Hannah Thurmon had four blocks and Alexa Werneck added three for Dexter, which led for all but the opening few points of the second set.
Dexter (19-4) opened the match with an 8-1 run that included Poplar Bluff's first timeout.
Haley Slaughter had a pair of kills for the Mules as Poplar Bluff settled in. Khelie Spence added back-to-back kills, but Poplar Bluff (12-6) never got closer than six points after Dexter's opening run. Both Slaughter and Spence finished the match with three kills.
Addie Kruse finished the set with consecutive kills for Dexter.
The Mules opened the second set with a kill and an ace to spark a little momentum.
Dexter immediately tied the game after Blair Rogers got a kill and Werneck stuffed an overpass. Thurmon, who led the team with 10 kills, had one of her blocks to put Dexter ahead for good and followed it up with a kill.
"My blockers as a whole, when I looked up there, we had big hands against Poplar Bluff. That's one of the things we wanted to do, is have big hands," Dexter coach Carmen Morgan said.
While the Mules didn't retake the lead, they trailed by just three points midway through after Doni Everts put down a kill.
"We just started out strong the first couple points," Poplar Bluff coach Amanda Lance said. "Just some momentum going there for a little bit, but we lost it shortly after that and we never regained it."
The Bearcats, though, controlled the net late and pushed ahead with a 14-3 run to finish the match.
Leading 23-11, a Dexter dig went high and wide toward the scorer's table. Bailee Williams, Dexter's setter, went sprinting after it and hit a blind pass back over her head and was somehow able to slow her stride and avoid ramming the padded table.
Poplar Bluff was anticipating a free ball and lined up accordingly. However, Thurmon came from nowhere and smacked the hopeful set for a kill.
"I thought 'good job Hannah.' That's what I told her, keep swinging. She's got long arms, she can take care of a ball like that out there and be aggressive. We want to be aggressive with every ball," Morgan said. "We want to try to attack every ball. We can't always, because you have to have position on it. Hannah didn't have real good position, but if you've got long arms and long legs, and she's quick armed, they weren't expecting it on the other side. They were expecting a free ball."
The Mules followed the play with the last of too many passing errors for match point.
"Passing was off tremendously and it typically isn't," Lance said. "I think we just got a little intimidated. Dexter is a strong team, they know all the girls, awesome team. So they want to beat them so bad, but then they kind of over think it and get themselves worked up."
Werneck had four kills and Maycie Martin added three kills. Williams got 13 assists while Werneck and Megan Trout each got six digs to lead the defense.
With the win, Dexter will enter Monday's Stoddard County Activities Association Tournament on a 13 game winning streak and 20 games without a loss.
Dexter swept the SCAA regular season schedule this season and lost one set, against Bloomfield, along the way.
"We improved on some things this week, some things we wanted to improve on. Hopefully we're ready Monday. We need to be," Morgan said. "I think we're ready to play."
Advance, the No. 2 seed in the SCAA tournament, split with the Bearcats in the Notre Dame Volleyballfest in early September.
Dexter's last loss was Aug. 28 at Farmington and its other three losses were during the St. Francis Borgia Tournament against St. Dominic, Washington and Mater Dei (Ill.)
The Mules had won seven of eight going back to Sept. 9, the lone hiccup being against Notre Dame, and will play in the Quad State Tournament this weekend.