HARTSBURG - Hartsburg-Emden and Mount Pulaski (or Mount Pulaski and Hartsburg-Emden, depending on your Logan County locale) are longstanding volleyball rivals.

Given the regularity with which the towns' teams play, it's elementary.

"The grade schools always clash," MP senior Christina Stoll said, "and the high schools are always going at it, too. I don't know what it is. I guess we're just both small schools and like to beat each other. See who's better."

For at least the next year, that distinction will belong to Mount Pulaski. Thursday's 18-25, 25-18, 25-16 win, dubbed a "match of mistakes" by Lady 'Toppers coach Donna Dulle, made it so.

It was a night when errors and misplays by the other side were the most reliable way to score. MP (9-4) simply made fewer.

Still: "It was real choppy," Dulle said.

She might have had different words had Hartem (7-5) sustained its Game 1 momentum.

Lacey Shelabarger pounded five of her game-high 10 kills in that span, helping the Stags shirk a 6-6 tie and pad a 12-11 lead.

When one of her blasts provided a 17-14 advantage, the H-E student section felt compelled to remind all in attendance of Shelabarger's youth.

"She's a freshman!" they chanted.

Indeed.

But the Stags also needed a boost from their upperclassmen. Especially when an 11-4 Game 2 lead began to slip away.

Save a late-Game 3 run keyed by senior setter Jillyn Cross (22 assists), it never came.

"As soon as we're tied or behind, we start to lose our confidence and start looking around and want someone else to do it," Hartem coach Jennifer Hayes said. "You just can't do that against a good team."

Something similar happened to the Stags in Monday's win against Warrensburg-Latham. The team cruised 25-10 in Game 1 and promptly lost Game 2 before recovering to take Game 3, 26-24.

Hayes screamed once or twice to spark her players then. With a packed house Thursday, that tactic would have been moot.

"Their gym is always really loud," Stoll said. "Fans always like to heckle us.

"They're always yelling real loud, too. And our fans try to yell louder."

The Lady 'Toppers faced their supporters before the beginning of the third game, leading them in cries of "M-P ... H-S."

Hartem fans weren't quite silent at that point. The only sensed the truth.

Just like the Stags.

"I think we just took the momentum from them in Game 2," Stoll said, "and they never got it back. I think they got discouraged and got down, and that really helped us."

Stoll's six kills and four blocks were also beneficial. Ditto for Morgan Litterly's eight kills and Kassi Schmidt's six.

"We've got no one who can dominate yet, so we've just got to use everybody," Dulle said.

Sarah Schneider had seven kills for Hartem. Freshman Kelsi Ubbenga had five kills and five blocks.

Elizabeth Fanning led MP with 10 digs, while Kaitlyn Kutz added eight.

"There never was a ball that was down that they didn't go after," Hayes said.

That aside, improved passing was also instrumental.

Jeri Kaye Turner (13) and Ellen Olson (10) each finished with double-digit assist totals for MP.

Both received the ball with more consistency after Dulle called timeout early in Game 2.

"Our feet weren't set, so it was just going too tight to the net," Stoll said. "We just needed to settle down and pass it lower."

Hayes noticed the change, too, and used it as motivation after the match.

After all, the Lady 'Toppers trailed for most of the early going but still won by being more aggressive.

"Don't play careful," Hayes said. "That's what we tend to do. We play careful and scared, and nothing good can come from that."