Zalma knocks off Bell City in volleyball showdown

BELL CITY, Mo. -- When first-year volleyball coach Dwyght Ford took over the Zalma program this fall, he wanted to teach his team how to win.

"I've got them with the mindset of we cannot lose," Ford said of his team's confidence level. "That's basically all we are doing is going out every night and playing our game and knowing when we step out on the floor we are going at 110 percent. If we lose at 110 that's fine, but we won't lose at 95."

The Bulldogs needed confidence Tuesday night when they traveled to take on state-ranked Bell City in a match that featured 10 lead changes and 22 ties over three games.

When the match finally concluded, the Bulldogs managed to walk away with another victory, defeating the Cubs 25-22, 18-25, 25-22.

The victory was the Bulldogs' second consecutive against a state-ranked opponent and fourth straight this season.

Zalma's Alisha Hendrix and Lesta Newberry, right, go up for a block against Bell City's Heather Green during the second game of their match Tuesday in Bell City, Mo. (Kristin Eberts)

"I was very pleased with our performance," Cubs coach Erin Hoffman said. "I thought we got better as we went along. Each game we are just trying to get better."

The Cubs built a 20-15 lead in the opening game before the Bulldogs went on a 7-0 run. The run was highlighted by kills from the Bulldogs' Lorie VanGennip, Angela Dickinson and Emily Merick.

Zalma followed that run by scoring three of the next five points to take the opening game 25-22.

"I told them in the locker room every game is a game of momentum," Ford said. "We either have it or they have it. We have to have it at the end of every set. And if we have the momentum at the end of every set, we are going to come out a winner."

The Cubs built a 22-18 lead in the second game, forcing a Zalma timeout. The Cubs' Jasmine Johnson picked up back-to-back kills following the timeout, helping Bell City take the second game 25-18.

Bell City's Trisha Slagley passes the ball during the third game Tuesday.

Johnson finished the night with 24 kills.

"She's very naturally athletic," Hoffman said of Johnson. "She's very smart. She maybe has the best volleyball intelligence of any player I've ever coached."

The third game was a back-and-forth battle that featured five leads changes and 11 ties. The teams were tied at 20-20 before a block by Newberry and a kill by Merick helped give the Bulldogs a 24-20 lead.

The Cubs took the next two points before Newberry smacked a kill past the Cubs' defense to end the match.

"It felt amazing," Newberry said of the match-clinching kill. "Every single one of us wanted to win this game. We just wanted to finally finish it. We want to stay undefeated and beat another state-ranked team."

Brittney Edwards picked up 23 assists and Lindsey Rendleman managed 23 digs for the Cubs. Johnson added 19 digs.

Newberry and Merick led the Bulldogs with seven kills apiece.

Zalma will host Marquand-Zion on Thursday. A Zalma win would send the Bulldogs undefeated to this weekend's 48-team SEMO Spike tournament at the Show Me Center.

"We have our hopes really high," Newberry said. "We want to try to go all the way. We want to try to make it gold bracket and try to get into the finals of the gold bracket. If we come out playing like we did [tonight], that might not happen, so we really have to step our game up."