WARDSVILLE - The scoreboard said one thing, Blair Oaks volleyball coach Joy Northweather saw something else.
Despite Blair Oaks' 25-8, 25-18 victory against Hallsville on Thursday night, Northweather wasn't necessarily pleased with how the match played out.
"I wouldn't say we were super sharp tonight," Northweather said.
Even though the Lady Falcons dealt with a few players suffering from illness during the match, Blair Oaks dismissed another overmatched opponent to run its record to 9-0 overall and 5-0 in the Tri-County Conference.
But that doesn't mean Northweather doesn't see room for improvement from her team.
"Our blockers were out of sync, they didn't have that many attack attempts," Northweather said.
Despite Northweather's concerns, the Lady Falcons had little trouble in the first game.
After an error by Blair Oaks made the score 9-6, the Lady Falcons took flight, scoring the next eight points to blow the game open.
They scored the final eight points of the game and took advantage of 11 Hallsville errors in the first game.
The second game was a little tighter. Blair Oaks led 11-9 before reeling off seven straight points to take an 18-9 lead. That stretch was spurred by a pair of Jessica Clark aces. It was 22-13 before Hallsville scored five straight points to cut the lead to 23-18. But the Lady Falcons scored the final two points to secure the match.
"Not playing like I'd like to be playing, no matter what our excuses are," Northweather said.
With Allison Maxwell and Paige Stockman under the weather during the match, Northweather was mixing and matching in the final few points, which contributed to Hallsville's late run.
"I used my subs a little differently," Northweather said.
Maggie Hoskins led Blair Oaks with eight kills while Paige Rackers chipped in with five.
"Maggie Hoskins has been a very consistent player for us," Northweather said. "She's doing the job and she's getting good control on her attacks."
Northweather was pleased with how well Blair Oaks dug. The Lady Falcons kept several balls alive that looked like sure points for Hallsville.
"We picked up balls tonight," Northweather said. "One thing I told the girls was the heart is there. We need some experience, a little bit of maturity. But we're digging balls. We had balls that might have hit the floor in the past couple of years that we're picking up this year. We're covering our setters."
The Lady Falcons are back in action Monday at Southern Boone.
Blair Oaks won Thursday's JV match 25-9, 25-5. Rebecca Schroeder and Lauren Bax had three kills each. Olivia Sieg had two Blocks. The JV team is now 12-2.