WOODLAND, Mo. -- Puxico needed to sweep Bernie to take the No. 5 seed away from the Mules or split to hold on to the No. 6 seed. It did neither.
Bernie comfortably defeated the Indians 25-10, 25-8 in pool play of the Stoddard County Activities Association Tournament on Tuesday to keep its pre-tournament seed heading into Thursday's single-elimination bracket. Puxico, meanwhile, slipped back to the No. 7 seed after losing the tiebreaker with Bell City.
Bernie (15-9-2) swept the day and will face tournament host Woodland on at 6 p.m. Thursday while Puxico (8-13) went 3-3 and will play No. 2 Advance at 5 p.m. The semifinals are also Thursday night with the championship at 8 p.m. Friday.
"We did the best we could do with the situation we are in. The county is really tough this year, and we are the No. 5 seed. We got seeded where we should have been seeded. We just wanted to come and do what we did today and make sure that we took care of business," Bernie coach Jason Long said. "(Woodland) is a good team and a tough Stoddard County this year. We've got to play them on their home floor and it is going to be a challenge. We should go into it not feeling any pressure. It should be a lot of fun because we are just trying to get better every day."
Under pool play rules both teams start with four points, and of Puxico's four earned points in the second set, three were kills after Bernie played near error-free volleyball. Of Puxico six kills, Faith Oliver had three.
"The big thing today for us, against all three of our opponents, is we wanted to try to play as clean as possible. It's a daily effort for us to improve and we really feel confident that we have a lot of improving that we can still do. Overall, (I'm) pleased with the way the day went for us," Long said.
Bernie's Taylor Lovelady started with the serve to and the Mules rattled off 13 unanswered points. Lovelady had four aces during the run, including three aces in a row and four out of five serves.
"We've struggled with serving errors at different points this year, so it was good to see us be consistent in that regard," Long said. "She is the type of kid, she has the capability of doing that. She's done that kind of thing before, she's done it in big games before. I wasn't surprised but at the same time, it was well done."
Logan Mayberry led Bernie with seven kills and an ace while Cymber Arnold added three kills.
In the first set, Puxico also had just three kills but was able to take advantage of a couple of extra Bernie errors to reach double digit points.
The set was tied at 5-all after each team committed an error but then Bernie went on an eight-point run to take control of the match. Mayberry had two or her eight kills and Taylor Anthony had one but Puxico committed errors for the other five points in the run. Arnold and Anthony both finished with three kills.
Bernie took a 10-point lead when a free ball landed on the Puxico side, highlighting the Indians' problems with communication as the night wore on.
Puxico opened the day by sweeping past No. 8 Bell City, but as the opponents got tougher, going from No. 7 Richland to No. 5 Bernie, communication problems grew. And as those grew they started causing problems everywhere else.
"We came out in our first game, we were swinging, we were communicating, we were hitting our spots, we did the right things and came out ahead because of it. Second game, Richland, they came out swinging," Puxico coach Hilary Wight said. "Once you lose that communication, unfortunately errors are contagious. Once you have a couple in a row where you are having those errors, then it spirals into a domino effect. Then your footwork is wrong, then your timing is off and little things like that."
The winner of Bernie and Woodland will play either top-seeded Dexter or the Richland in the semifinals. Bernie and Woodland will also play each other in the regular season on Monday, shortly after the SCAA tournament finishes.
Puxico previously played Advance on September 21 and lost 2-0.
Bernie 2, Richland 0
(25-14, 25-10)
Eight of Richland's 10 points in the first set were off Bernie errors. The Mules cleaned up their play late in the set and closed with an eight point run that featured three aces. Kelsey Spitzer had two aces and a kill for Bernie in the second set as the Mules had eight total aces in the match.
Puxico 2, Bell City 0
(25-17, 25-19)
Sophia Hancock finished with five kills, a block and two aces as the Indians finished with 13 total aces in the match. Kylie Miller had six consecutive aces out of Puxico's final seven points in the second set. Oliver added three kills.
Bernie 2, Bell City 0
(25-12, 25-7)
Bernie's Ryleigh Foster served for 11 straight points in the second set and earned four aces during the run. Bernie closed the first set with a 15-4 run and then didn't allow a kill as it cruised through the second set.
Puxico 1, Richland 1
(25-22, 18-25)
The Indians trailed 18-14 in the first set before tying it up at 20 and scoring the final three points of the set to get the win.
Tied at 22, Puxico pushed ahead on a net violation that also erased a Richland kill from the scoreboard. Oliver then came through with a kill and Richland sent an attack long. Puxico was similarly down 17-14 in the second set and tied it up on 17 after a Lea Shepard ace and pair of Richland errors. This time, however, the Rebels closed with an 8-1 run and Lillie Sherfield polished off the set with three straight aces.
Oliver had three kills and two block kills in the match and Hancock finished with three kills and one block kill.
Richland 2, Bell City 0
(25-17, 25-19)
Harlie Leeper had four kills and two aces for Richland and Sherfield added two kills. Avvie Jones added five aces. Bell City finished with two kills and an ace in the match as a team.