Kennett's Leanna Siebenhuener (2) hits the ball as LeighErin Waddell comes in to help during Tuesday's high school volleyball match against Dexter at Kennett. Dexter won the match 25-22, 25-12. [Click to enlarge]

After seeing their volleyball season ended by the Kennett Lady Indians last fall, the Dexter Lady Bearcats surely had Tuesday's rematch circled on their calendar.

"We actually felt like we had a message to send out after being disappointed by them two times last season," Dexter coach Kris Vandeven said. "I thought we would come in here and either fall apart or actually play to our potential. I felt like we come in, hit on the high notes and did well."

After taking a close win in the opening set, the Lady Bearcats took command of the game behind the serving of Haylee Finch, scoring 10 straight second-set points to take a 25-22, 25-12 win over the Tribe Tuesday.

Kennett's Christina Daily sets the ball during Tuesday's high school volleyball match against Dexter. [Click to enlarge]

"She was a hard server," Kennett coach Casey Bunting said of Finch. "She was sending bullets to the back row. (Our) back row was working. When you have somebody serving hard at you like that, you just got to pop it up. We have to work together on the back row getting it up and then having the front row do something with it.

"As hard as she was serving, I was pleased with what they were doing as far as getting underneath it. I don't know that they're going to run against a serve like that until we match up with Dexter again. We'll be ready. We'll know how to work it."

With just two starters -- Christina Daily and LeighErin Waddell -- back from last season, inexperience may have factored into Tuesday's contest for Kennett (0-1).

"We have two returning seniors that played last year," Bunting said. "Our other ones are new to the court, in the essence of playing as much as they did. So, I was pleased with every girl, as hard as they worked. We're new in court time and we're old in age. We're just going to have to work on that."

After Dexter (1-0) took an early lead in the second set, Christina Daily's kill sliced the Tribe deficit to 12-10.

"Christina Daily is a veteran," Bunting said. "She's a veteran on the court for us. She's a veteran in attitude. She's an easy team leader for us. You could tell -- I'm sure anyone that was watching could tell that she had experience more on the court than some of the other girls did. She's a key player for us. We like to keep the ball in her hands if we can."

That's when Finch took over, serving for 10 straight points to put the game away. By the time Kennett scored again, Dexter had a 22-11 lead.

"Dexter has a wonderful team ... " Bunting said. "They're very polished, have some key players returning, some key starters and that makes a difference. Even though we're an old team as far as seniors, we're young as far as people that have been on the court.

"I have several sophomores last year that are juniors this year that were getting more playing time than they probably have seen or could have expected to. But, they got out there and they worked hard."

In the junior varsity match, the Lady Bearcats took a 25-19, 25-21 win.

The Lady Indians return to action Thursday when they host Delta C-7. Game time is 6 p.m.

Despite Tuesday's loss, the Tribe remains optimistic.

"You win some, you lose some," senior Kelly Carter said. "We'll be ready for them next time. I think we were just all shaken up and stuff. But, we will be ready for them next time. We won't be down on ourselves. We're going to come back Thursday and be ready for our next team in."

At Senath, the Lady Lions fell to 1-1 on the season in a straight-set loss to Bootheel Conference foe Portageville.

Kasey Mara led Senath-Hornersville with 33 assists, while Whitney Odle finished with 24 assists and three blocks. Brittany Wyrick added 18 assists and nine service points, while Cathryn Chapman added 19 assists and Becky Motes added 10 assists and two blocks.

In junior varsity action, the Lady Lions improved to 2-0 with a 25-16, 25-8 win.

Senath-Hornersville is at Southland Thursday.