Seventeen games into the season, Poplar Bluff coach Amanda Lance decided to mix up the rotation.
The Mules have been running a 5-1 rotation with Ady Kingree as the setter all season. Against Clearwater on Thursday, Lance went for a 4-2, added Zoe Savat as a second setter.
"She has great hands, she just needs a little more confidence in herself, but she did a good job tonight," Lance said of Savat who normally just plays defense.
The Mules then used a pair of late game runs to beat the Tigers 25-22, 25-15 at the Senior High Gym.
"I saw good things, bad things. They are not comfortable with it, but the more you practice it the better you will get, obviously. It is something I want to keep in my back pocket and see how it goes," Lance said of the new rotation. "They weren't as comfortable as they normally are, but we weren't putting forth the effort at the beginning of the set and finally something happened and we decided to work a little bit harder."
Poplar Bluff (10-7) hadn't even practiced the new formation prior to Thursday's game, but doesn't play again until Thursday when it hosts Dexter, and Lance plans to work on the new rotation in the meantime. It's the biggest gap between games the Mules will have this season.
"I'm real excited to have four practices in a row," Lance said.
Poplar Bluff was down 18-12 in the first game when the Mules turned things around and eventually tied it up at 21.
During their 9-3 run, the Mules got kills from four different people, and two from Haley Slaughter. Poplar Bluff scored seven straight points with Sophie Rowland serving and Rowland hit an ace to tie the game.
Tied at 21, Clearwater's receive on Rowland's next serve went back over the net and landed, but the Tigers committed a double hit to tie the game again at 22.
Slaughter then scored on a tip to put Poplar Bluff ahead for the first time since 12-11.
Hannah Corcimiglia took the serve for the Mules and she nailed the top of the net in such a way that the ball lazily rolled over the top and landed.
Sierra Sievers then hit her second kill to that point for set point.
"We were struggling, it was ugly. We ran a little bit of a different rotation tonight and sometimes it throws them for a loop, but we're just trying to see all of our options to see what works best and what is going to help us in the end," Lance said.
Poplar Bluff didn't trail after 3-2 in the second game and again pulled away with a big run midway through.
Ahead 16-13, Kiley Bess got a block to get the serve back for the Mules and start a six point run. Slaughter got a pair of kills during the run as Sievers served.
Slaughter added an ace to put Poplar Bluff ahead 24-15 and Clearwater (10-10) committed a net violation to finish the match.
"I think we're lacking confidence. We're rebuilding our team. We're improved greatly, but we need that big win. We need a win from a good team. We're playing and we're beating the teams that we can beat, but we need that big win and that confidence," Clearwater coach Lisa Ayers said. "We didn't have a winning season last year, so it is just getting that confidence and knowing that we can beat those teams."
Slaughter, Rowland and Corcimiglia all had two aces and Slaughter led the Mules with five kills. Six Mules had at least one kill and Khelie Spence, Sievers and Rowland all had three.
Faith Hoppe led Clearwater with eight kills and two blocks.