CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - After a rough start to its day at the Show-Me Center, the Fatima volleyball team finished it right where it wanted to be.
The Lady Comets overcame an uneven start to their first match in the Class 2 Final Four to go 2-0-1 in round-robin play, earning them a spot in today's championship match.
Fatima fell behind 6-1 against St. Paul Lutheran before hitting its stride, ripping off the next 12 points in a row. It jump-started the Lady Comets to a 25-20 win, and they took the second set by the same margin to put them in fine shape.
"Getting those first two out of the way is key," Fatima coach Mark Bockstruck said. "... You've got to win that first match, it helps so much throughout the rest of the day. We clawed our way back and we got a win."
A 25-16, 25-15 win against Bloomfield clinched Fatima a spot in the state-title match, and the Lady Comets closed the day by splitting with Liberty: Mountain View, the team they'll meet in the final. Liberty took the first set 25-18 and Fatima won the second 25-21.
"We did pretty good that second set against Liberty: Mountain View, but we can play better," Bockstruck said. "I know we can play better. Hopefully it will happen (today)."
Bockstruck said part of his team's early struggles was the environment at the home of the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks.
"You've got to get used to this atmosphere here quickly," he said. "It's so big and so open. The girls don't realize that when you play in these little high-school gyms, when you yell something, it will bounce off of every wall. You yell something in here, no. It's got nothing to bounce off of.
"So it's a lot quieter and those communication issues showed really early. We would call something and nobody could hear because this place is just too big."
Fatima middle hitter Kenadi Huhn, who tied for the match lead with seven kills, said getting adjusted was important.
"You look up and the ceiling is so much higher than the one at Fatima. So it was a lot different," she said. "The first game we started off kind of shaky, but once we got used to it, we came out and tried to kill it."
The Lady Comets got ahead quickly in the second set against St. Paul, taking a 6-2 advantage, before the Saints came back to lead 14-10. The Lady Comets then won seven of the next eight points and never trailed again.
Haley Luebbering and Tara Buthod added five kills apiece for Fatima in that win, while Huhn chipped in with two blocks. Buthod also had four aces, while Paige Groner and Courney Wolfe had five digs apiece. Emily Keilholz handed out 16 assists.
Fatima then had little trouble with Bloomfield, taking five of the first six points in the first set and never looking back.
"We kind of knew we had an advantage on them, and I thought we kind of took it easy," Bockstruck said. "But we (won) it."
Buthod racked up 10 kills and two blocks in that match, while Huhn added eight kills and two blocks. Emily Muenks had 10 digs and Keilholz had 17 assists and two aces.
Fatima and Liberty were both 2-0 at that point with four sets won, deciding the championship-match pairing, so it took all the suspense out of the final round-robin match. That was just fine with Huhn.
"It was very relieving, knowing that we would definitely go into (the title match)," she said. "We still tried to play our hardest, we always try to focus on every point."
Fatima started sluggishly, falling behind 9-5 in the first set. The Lady Comets did get within two points on two occasions late, the last at 20-18, but Liberty took the final five points to win it.
"The last (match) didn't matter, we just wanted to go play with them and see what they might show us. I'm sure they were doing the same with us," Bockstruck said.
The loss seemed to fire up Fatima, which ran out to a 17-11 lead in the final set and held off a late rally.
"We try to be positive and stay up, even if the other team is killing us like they were in that first game," Huhn said. "We try to stay up and the second game we definitely came back. We always try to stay positive.
"We both knew that we would see each other (today) and whoever won that was going to come out with confidence."
Buthod led all players with eight kills and she also had three blocks and two aces. Muenks had 14 digs, Keilholz had 12 assists and Huhn had three blocks.
The best part about having clinched a spot before the final match was Shaina Boehm, fighting through a sprained ankle, could rest the entire third match.
"She did well," Bockstruck said. "She had a Class 3 sprain on Monday and usually you don't come back from that in just a matter of days. But she hit physical therapy hard, iced it, she did everything the doctors said to her, and she got back on the court. ... It was good we could rest her (in the final match)."
Fatima and Liberty will meet for the title at 4:30 p.m. today, with the Lady Comets seeking to add a state championship to the one they won in 2012. Fatima also finished second in 2011.
"We did not play to our potential all day (Friday) and that's got me a little concerned because I know we're a better team than this," Bockstruck said. "They have the talent, they have the training, they know what they need to do on the court. There's one thing that seemed to be missing today, and that's heart. They didn't have that heart, that drive, that they really want this.
"I'm hoping (today) ... they have that drive like, "I want this.' Hopefully that's enough for them to play to their potential."
Follow News Tribune sports reporter Tony Hawley (@tony_hawley) on Twitter for his updates during the games.