MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- After stumbling over nerves in the semifinals, Dexter played one of its best games, possibly since the season opener, and held onto its dominance over Stoddard County.
The Bearcats won their fifth consecutive Stoddard County Activities Association Tournament by beating Bloomfield 25-20, 25-12 on Friday night.
"This year, Stoddard County was stronger than it has been the past couple years," Dexter coach Carmen Morgan said. "This year, any team could knock anybody off so that made it sweet."
Dexter (22-4-2) dropped one set throughout the tournament, which included six matches in all, in pool play when it split with Woodland.
"This game, we all pulled together as a team. It was one of the best games we've played since Arcadia Valley," said Dexter senior setter Bailee Williams, referencing the team's season-opening win on Aug. 21. "I felt like there was a lot of leadership out there. Us seniors took a lot of control of the game and took the sophomores and juniors under our wing and they did good. They stepped up for us."
Top-seeded Dexter needed the extra help with senior middle hitter Hannah Thurmon hampered with a sprained ankle. Thurmon, who has twice as many kills as anybody else on the team, still led Dexter with 10 kills but was pulled late with Dexter leading comfortably.
Fellow senior Addie Kruse finished with nine kills and two blocks, one kill shy of her season high that was in a three-set match against Ste. Genevieve. It was a season best for matches that only lasted two games.
Sophomores Blair Rogers and Alexa Werneck added five kills and four kills, respectively. Werneck matched her season best and Rogers matched her third-best total. Six Bearcats finished with a kill and seven had at least one dig.
Megan Trout led the defense with 11 digs and Williams got 25 assists, two kills and 1 1/2 blocks.
The first set was tied at 19 before Dexter went on a five-point run that seemed to settle whatever nerves were acting up.
"I think we were a little nervous for the first set. The second set, we came out, we were ready. We knew they were going to come out stronger, but we told ourselves how we were going to beat them, is we were going to out-work them," Williams said.
Rogers capped the run with a kill and after Bloomfield took the serve back, Rogers got another kill for set point.
Bloomfield coach Haley Silman said she felt the Wildcats took the floor of the second set with energy and they played with Dexter initially. There were three ties in the early going and Bloomfield trailed 6-5 when Dexter scored eight straight.
"I felt like we hit as well as we had for awhile in that second game," Morgan said.
Bloomfield (21-4) committed three errors during the run and didn't score consecutive points the rest of the match.
"We just got in our head and quit communicating. We had a lot of errors on our side. We were hitting it out, not getting a good pass. I think they got a little nervous and a little antsy and didn't quite settle back into our routine," Silman said.
Jewell Chism led Bloomfield with six kills to go with 10 digs. Bailey Below had four kills and seven digs while Cayla Mayberry also had four kills. Kaley Roper finished with 15 digs and Nicole Roper got 16 assists.
Below, Chism and both Ropers made the All-Tournament team, as did Dexter's Thurmon, Kruse and Williams.
"I couldn't be happier," Silman said of how No. 3 Bloomfield did in the tournament overall. "We beat (No. 2) Advance last night (in the semifinals) and that was our goal, was to meet Advance again and beat them and we did that. So I'm super proud. I don't think anybody expected us to come up and play for first. I feel like we did a good job of getting here."
Also making the All-Tournament team was Roz Schrader (Advance), Alanis Below (Advance), Addie Curtis (Advance), Cymber Arnold (Bernie), and Hailey Rhodes (Woodland).
Both Dexter and Bloomfield enter the final week of their regular seasons before defending their district championships.
Top-seeded Dexter will face the next two seeds in Notre Dame and Perryville at the Bearcat Events Center in a pseudo tune-up for the MSHSAA Class 3 District 1 tournament.
The Wildcats, also the top seed in the Class 2 District 2 bracket, will host Bell City and travel to Zalma before eventually playing the winner of Puxico and Clearwater in the district semifinals.