It's a safe bet when you have more attack errors than kills in a volleyball match, you're in for a long night.
That was the fate that befell the Jefferson City Lady Jays on Monday night.
The Lady Jays had 16 hitting errors and just 11 kills while they lost 25-12, 25-19 to Rock Bridge at Fleming Fieldhouse.
"It's been a transition for some of these kids that we are no longer JV and we can't go up there and just swing hard and try to pound it through, because it's coming right back at us," Jefferson City coach Lisa Hoffmeyer said. "It's been a slow learning curve for some of them. We're working on it."
Perhaps the worst stretch for the Lady Jays came at the start of the second game, where they fell behind 13-5 and seven of the Bruins' points came on Jefferson City hitting errors.
"I feel like we get stuck between two things way too often," Hoffmeyer said. "It's, "Am I trying to go up and hit the ball as hard as I can and power through or around a block,' or it's, "Am I just going to give them the easiest tip in the whole wide world,' which is what happens to us a lot. We sit down on our feet and give it to them with two hands, just trying to keep the ball in play. That's just as ineffective as an attack error.
"We've been working a lot on a roll shot and a deep tip, but we have not seen it come in on game nights the way we would like."
Rock Bridge, on the other hand, used plenty of tips and rolls early in the match, dumping the ball often while taking the first game by a big margin.
"Their setter probably had more kills than anybody on their team for a while with that second contact," Hoffmeyer said. "We did make the adjustment, but it took us way too long to fix it."
That first-game loss, coupled with the rough start to the second - the Lady Jays fell behind by as much as 19-8 - threatened to have the match get out of hand.
But the Lady Jays showed some grit and ripped off five straight points to get within 19-13.
Rock Bridge then won five of seven points to get to game point at 24-15. Jefferson City then scored four straight points - two on kills by Mary Wehmeyer and one on a block by Madisyn Stone - to make it interesting before Rock Bridge got a sideout to win it.
Hoffmeyer said she wasn't surprised by the rally.
"These kids will work hard. They really will work hard," she said. "We just have a hard time gaining momentum, because we make a lot of mistakes. As soon as it feels like we start to get something going, we miss a serve or we have an attack error, we have something where we kill our own momentum.
"They're working hard and fighting, but it's hard to get fired up when you don't have the consistency."
For the match, Chelsea Klosterman had 12 digs and Maggie Albert had 10. Wehmeyer had five kills, while Albert and Mary Vandelicht had two each.
Also, Wehmeyer and Stone had two blocks apiece and Albert added nine assists, while Vandelicht had the team's only ace.
Jefferson City (9-18-1) will host Hickman at 7 p.m. Thursday.
In Monday night's JV match, Jefferson City posted a 25-14, 25-17 victory.
Stephanie Fisher had five kills, while Bailey Diehl and Amber Runkle had three apiece. Janice Steacy had 11 service points for the Lady Jays (18-11-1).
The Jefferson City freshmen notched a 25-11, 25-15 win against Rock Bridge.
Baylee Rozier had 14 service points for the Lady Jays (18-4-1), Samantha Murray had four kills, and Veronica Allison handed out eight assists.