BERNIE -- Six different players had two or more kills for Poplar Bluff and the Lady Mules combined for 13 blocks in a 25-16, 25-20 win Monday night at Bernie.

"A true team effort," Lady Mules volleyball coach Mike Berry said.

Blake Talkington led Poplar Bluff (8-6) with five kills, while Jamie Fritts added four kills and three solo blocks and five block assists.

Kristin Eaves led Bernie (3-8-1) with six kills and six blocks, three solo, while Krista Armbruster added five in the loss.

"Kristin was a force tonight and hit the ball very well," Bernie coach Jeff Rodgers said. "Unfortunately, we couldn't get her the ball enough for various reasons."

After the Lady Mules took the first game with 11 kills, Game 2 was tied at 20-20 before Poplar Bluff scored the final five points to keep Eaves on the back row.

Berry said the biggest difference between Monday and the first meeting, which Bernie won 19-25, 25-10, 25-23 on Sept. 13, was the fact that his team committed fewer hitting errors. Poplar Bluff had eight attack errors and four service errors Monday after committing 21 total errors in the first match.

Abby Ivie, Kaci Tapp, Staci Callahan and Grace Griffith each had two kills for the Lady Mules (8-6), who improved to 3-1 in road matches. Tapp had seven assists while Ivie added four. Griffith led with nine digs while Talkington added eight.

Sarah Deason led Bernie with 15 digs.

In the junior varsity match, Bernie improved to 7-3-1 with a 25-17, 25-18 win.

Zalma 2, Greenville 0 (25-19, 25-20): The Lady Bears suffered from what's been a problem all year according to head coach Brent Huff.

"We keep getting to 17 points with about every team we play, we just don't finish," Huff said. "I don't know if we lost focus but they always seem to out play us."

Miranda Stewart had 11 assists for the Lady Bears (2-8-1) Kaylin Becker had six kills and six digs while Tara Porter had four kills and four digs.

Clearwater 2, South Iron 1 (25-11, 24-26, 25-18):

The Lady Tigers put up a strong effort Monday night and came away with the win.

"We played a really good game, we played smart and good," Clearwater coach Rae Jean Fuchs said.

The Lady Tigers (2-1 Black River) trailed 23-19 in second game but managed to fight back to tie it tie it up 24-24. Although they took the loss in the game, 24-26, they battled back and Fuchs was delighted at the effort.

"We played well, one of our much better games, they played well together," Fuchs said.

Kennett 2, Twin Rivers 0 (25-16, 25-12): The Lady Royals couldn't bounce back from two slow starts in each of their games Monday night, resulting in a loss to the Lady Indians.

"We had extremely slow starts in both games," Twin Rivers head coach Kelly Null said. "By the end of both games, we put some nice passes, sets and hits but we dug ourselves too big of a hole."

A concern earlier in the season for Null was serving, but that has improved by leaps and bounds, she said. The Lady Royals were 25-for-26 on the night.

"We just couldn't get any good passes going to set up hits," Null added. "It was a real eye-opener."

The Lady Royals (7-5-2) were 1-1-1 this past weekend at the Clearwater Invitational.

SOFTBALL

Neelyville 6, Clearwater 5: In a game originally scheduled to be played in Neelyville, the Lady Tigers took to the road Monday afternoon and snatched a victory from Clearwater.

Neelyville was able to capitalize on early runs to take the win. The Lady Tigers scored three runs in the first inning, but left the bases loaded. Clearwater right fielder, Kelce Arrington, ran 30-feet and snagged a snow-cone catch to save the inning.

"That was really kind of a momentum shift, they knew they missed out on a golden opportunity," Clearwater coach Shannon England said.

Neelyville pitcher Hannah McDaniel had a no-hitter going into the sixth inning when Clearwater started to mount the comeback.

Clearwater scored three runs in the sixth with Alex Green hitting a two-run single.

Lydia Wymore pitched 5 1/3 innings of relief for Clearwater, striking out three.

Neelyville beat Clearwater 17-1 in three innings back on Sept. 9.

"The whole feel of the game was completely different this time," England added.

Neelyville got a solid game from Jackie Griffin and Holly Eakins each went 2-for-4 with an RBI. McDaniel pitched the complete game with nine strikeouts.

Lady Tigers head coach Liz Ponder wasn't pleased with the near-comeback by Clearwater (1-9).

"There are only a couple weeks left until districts and the girls have got to realize how important it is to stay focused until the game is over," Ponder said.

Twin Rivers 11, Greenville 0: Carlee Vancil had 14 strikeouts as she no-hit the Lady Bears for a win.

"She was very efficient, which is something she hasn't been in a while," Twin Rivers coach Rob Brown said. "She was pumping in strikes and it made for an easy day for her."

The Lady Royals scored four runs in both the fourth and fifth innings to pull away. Cindy Nippe led the Lady Royals with three RBIs in the win.

"We have been putting the ball in play a lot better," Brown said. "We were putting them into play and getting a few hits."

Doniphan 2, Couch 1: The Donettes scored two runs in the first inning to move past Couch.

Sarah Tejeda scored on a Christin Ivy single and Erin Pennington scored later on a passed ball for the only two Donettes runs of the contest.

"Right now, we are struggling trying to manufacture more runs but we are starting to win the closer games," Doniphan coach Brad Phillips said.

Mary Beth Cosgrove pitched seven innings for the Donettes and struck out four while allowing just two hits.

"We took some time off Friday and she really looked sharp," Phillips said. "She was throwing a bit harder and really hitting locations and throwing strikes."

BASEBALL

Twin Rivers 7, Greenville 0: The Royals' offense got going and supported starter Garrett Stockton in a win over Greenville.

Stockton went seven innings and earned the win as he allowed just four hits.

"He has gotten a little better each time out," Twin Rivers coach Denver Stuckey said. "He is starting to show better command of his pitches."

The Royals scored three in the fourth followed by two runs each in the fifth and sixth. Taylor Lowe got the scoring going in the third with an RBI groundout and Braxton Teague had a two-out single that plated two runs to make it 3-0.

"We are still not an offensive juggernaut by any means," Stuckey said. "We only struck out twice and put the ball in play. We had some guys have some productive outs."

Naylor 9, East Carter 4: The Eagles bounced back nicely after a 10-run loss to Greenville last Thursday to beat the Redbirds on Monday.

"Our defense was a little bit better," Naylor coach Glenn Eubanks said. "We kinda put some things together to score a few runs.

Cory Kovach got the win for Naylor (5-3).

Naylor had a 5-2 lead through two innings after Josh Cullison had an RBI in the first inning while Travis Thomas had an RBI in the second. Thomas ended the day 4-for-5 with three RBIs for the Eagles.