A total of five seniors were recognized prior to Bell’s volleyball home match against Eastside on Tuesday night.

They celebrated Senior Night with a 25-13, 25-19, 26-28, 25-10 victory against the visiting Rams.

Senior Mae Collett led the way with 17 kills as the Class 1A Lady Bulldogs (15-9) defeated the 4A Rams (10-10) for the third time this season.

“Mae is our go-to-kid,” said Bell coach Drue Barry. “She’s a kid that, when we get a good set, she can put it away for us and that’s what we need. Mae will definitely be missed.”

Although Bell won again, this time Eastside took a set.

“Give credit to Eastside, there’s some athletic kids over there,” said Barry. “Coach (Rachel Williams) has done a good job with them. They’re starting to believe they can win and if you let a team hang around, they can pull a set out, but we did respond well with the fourth set.”

Junior Rylee Johnson (23 assists) had four aces as part of an 8-0 run to end the first set as Bell took a quick 1-0 lead.

“She’s a good kid,” Barry said. “My other setter, Anna (Hutto), she’s been my No. 1 setter, we run two setters, but she’s been hurt so Rylee stepped in…she’s done an excellent job for us.”

Hutto, who missed their game on Monday at Columbia (Lake City), returned from injury and finished with a team-leading five aces.

She had back-to-back aces in a back-and-forth third set for a 13-12 lead.

Eastside had just won a long battle at the net led by junior middle blocker Samiyah Daniels for a 12-10 lead.

“She (Daniels) just kept getting up, staying on her toes, watching the ball, giving it back to them, yeah that was beautiful,” Williams said. “She played tough.”

Williams’ daughter, Joanna, had a kill to tie it at 18-apiece after Bell had reclaimed the lead, 18-17, on a kill by Collett.

“She’s come a long way,” Williams said. “I love her very much. She plays tough, and this is her first time ever setting, so I’ve been really proud of the way she hustles and can still hit hard.”

However, it took back-to-back kills by senior Lexy Livingston to win the set.

In Williams’ first season, Eastside only won one match out of 17.

“This year we have improved significantly and part of that is learning to not give up, and never quit, rise above, keep fighting, so I love it when I see that in them. They’re resilient and keep fighting,” she said.

Bell junior Alaina Thomas finished with 27 digs, while freshman Gracelyng Joiner-Solis added seven kills.

The Lady Bulldogs also got some key contributions from senior McKinnley Downing.

“She’s got to be one of the smallest middles in the state of Florida, I mean she’s about 5-foot-5, but the kid can jump out of the gym and she can just hang,” Barry said. “She sees the court well and she’s another one that will do just anything we ask of her.”

Last night’s game was the final game of the regular season for Eastside, which will now get ready for next week’s 4A-District 5 tournament at two-time defending state champion Santa Fe (Alachua).

“We’ve beaten North Marion (Citra), and Dunnellon we’ve beaten twice, so…I’m excited,” Williams said. “We’ve got some fighters and we have lots of athletic potential and heart.”

Bell will play its regular season finale at 7 p.m. on Thursday at Dixie County (Cross City).

“We knew that if we came in and did what we’re supposed to do, we would win the game,” Barry said. “Senior Night is always tough, a lot of emotion, but they responded and did what they needed to do tonight to get ready for Dixie on Thursday.”