The Mules may have been swept, but coach Michael Sowatzke still thinks it will serve as a morale boost going forward.
After losing its first meet of the season Tuesday to Kennett, Dexter bounced back and swept Poplar Bluff 9-0 at the Senior High tennis courts.
"Our girls came into it knowing that Dexter was amazing in the past. I think some of them were a little psyched up, but really played strong. I saw a lot of really good swings," Sowatzke said. "Our girls did better than they thought, so I think it will be a good morale boost going forward even though we lost."
Poplar Bluff (1-1) won at least two games against Dexter (4-1) in all but one match, and even where the Mules were swept the match was closer than the score.
Dexter's Jadyn Northcutt and Abigail Dorton beat Sara Holland and Mya White 8-0 in No. 1 doubles in a match that went to deuce in four different games.
In No. 2 doubles, Malia Cook and Hannah Bollinger beat Clarissa Varner and Annaleese Williams 8-3, and in No. 3 doubles, Maci McBride and Courtney Northcutt beat Simone Anders and Caitlin Dollines 8-4.
The closest matches on the day were at No. 1 and No. 4 singles, which both went 8-5.
Northcutt had a 6-5 lead on Holland before winning the final two games.
"She was pretty down yesterday and pulled herself back up and pulled out an 8-5 win," Boles said.
Added Sowatzke, "The Dexter opponent was really strong. She was able to push balls really hard. Our girl adjusted by not feeding her a bunch of hard balls back, so it was good to see her playing some smart tennis."
In No. 4 singles, Bollinger made a similar late push to beat Murphy.
"We could have moved our feet a little bit more, but overall, two girls going at it back and forth. So I felt it looked like a pretty good match," Boles said. "Just watching some of them finish a game instead of pushing back and forth, and finally pushing ahead and winning two instead of one bouncing back and forth."
Dorton beat White 8-4 in No. 2 singles while Cook beat Varner 8-3 in No. 3 singles.
McBride also won 8-3 over Williams in No. 5 singles and Northcutt beat Anders 8-2 in No. 6 singles.
"I feel like we had a comeback from Kennett. We lost pretty bad yesterday, so we had a pretty good showing today," Boles said about losing to Kennett 9-0 on Tuesday. "They were pretty down yesterday. We just had to talk about how you had to forget about yesterday, it is a new day today and a new game. You just have to start fresh."