The Booneville Bearcats volleyball team has split their last two outings, sweeping conference foe Lincoln on Thursday but falling to Pottsville yesterday in straight sets.
Both of those matches were played in Bearcat Gymnasium. Today the Bearcats hit the road for another conference match in Elkins.
On Monday it was Pottsville scoring the first eight points of the night before a long serve finally ended the run.
It was still an 8-point deficit at 21-13 when Lyddia Franklin registered a kill and Bearcats got another kill from Karmen Kent and went on to close the gap to five three times and to four at 24-20 when Kent won a net battle but Pottsville broke serve to win the first set 25-20.
In the second set the Bearcats jumped to a quick lead and were up 5-2 after one particularly entertaining rally ended with a missile shot from Kent landing just in but Pottsville would score the next four points.
There were ties at 5, 6, and 7 before Pottsville went up 10-7, then 13-8 forcing Head Coach Bailey Stringer to burn a time out.
Out of the time out Emma Mikles tapped home a point winner but Pottsville stretched the lead to 17-11 before Kent hit a ball that hit the net but fell in for a point.
Pottsville scored the next four points for a 21-12 edge. Franklin blocked a ball for a point but Pottsville closed the set with four more points to win 25-13.
The first three points of the third set went to the Apaches but the Bearcats were able to take 5-4 and 7-5 leads then forged a 10-10 tie with three straight points.
Pottsville went on another run broken finally by a kill by Kylie Lunsford to make it 15-11.
From there the Apaches built a 21-13 lead before a Franklin slam down started rally and a kill by Ellie Smith (shown) and an ace from Camdyn Dove cut it to 22-19.
Pottsville broke serve out of a time out and was within a point of the match when Smith got another kill but the Apaches closed it out on the next point.
On Thursday the key segment occurred when the Bearcats ran off 12 consecutive points to close the second and start the third sets.
The Bearcats were up up 1-0 but had trailed since the second set since it was 2-1.
Lincoln led 12-4 until a kill by Kent sent her to the service line.
Kent got consecutive kills from Smith, one from Franklin, then delivered an ace and a Mikles kill helped the Bearcats climb back in it.
Lincoln pushed it back to 18-13 inducing a time out. A kill by Ulmer cut it back to five but Lincoln continued to lead by four to six points until Kent blocked a ball then won a point to make it 21-18.
Lincoln answered the point but a block by Mikles started the 12-point run.
Teagan McMaster dug a ball out that led to the first of two straight Smith kills and it was tied.
After a Lincoln time out a Kent dig led to a point and at set point, after Lincoln’s second time out, a Mikles block won it.
The Bearcats then scored the first five points of the third set and were in total control throughout on the way to a 21-11 set win.
At 10-6 the Bearcats ran off five straight with a block by Ulmer and a Dove ace along the way to force a time out and make it a 9-point lead.
Another run included kills by Mikles, Smith, and Lunsford and an ace by Lilly Downs and had the lead at 19-8.
A backward return from Lunsford and an ace from Ulmer had the Bearcats a point away, which came on a kill by Lunsford after a dig by McMaster.
The Bearcats had also scored the first five points of the night before Lincoln pulled even at 5-5.
The Bearcats continued to lead and were up 15-12 even after an ace by the Wolves but a 5-0 run that included kills by Mikles and Smith and an ace from Dove made it 20-12.
A run by Lincoln cut a 23-15 lead to 2317 but a kill by Ulmer led to the final point of the set.
BEARCAT VOLLEYBALL PICKS UP CONFERENCE WIN
