It took the Versailles Lady Tigers three sets each time to beat the Eldon Lady Mustangs in the first two meetings between the teams this season.
It took the Lady Mustangs two sets to beat the Lady Tigers when it mattered most.
No. 5 Eldon tallied 13 kills and recorded nine aces as the Lady Mustangs claimed a 25-18, 25-22 win Monday against No. 4 Versailles in the opening round of the Class 3 District 12 Tournament at Rackers Fieldhouse.
"We had some communication issues in the first two games we played them, and I think what we've done from then until now has really gotten us to the point where the communication is good, we're aggressive, we're serving hard and we're hitting hard," Eldon coach Elizabeth Clingman said.
"My girls had a vendetta out at the beginning that they wanted to win (Monday). They knew they could beat them."
Eldon (13-13-3) jumped out to early leads in both sets and the Lady Mustangs were able to hold off two late runs by Versailles to earn a date with No. 1 seed Helias (35-0-1) at 5 p.m. today in a semifinal game at Rackers Fieldhouse.
Clingman's group knows it won't be an easy matchup.
"In order to compete, and possibly win, we have to make sure that we're on our game and we're doing the little things right," Clingman said. "We know that (today's) game is very important and we have to be on-point with everything."
Clingman did note Monday's match was the best her team has played this season, and she hopes that will carry over against the Lady Crusaders.
That's what her players are hoping for, too.
"(Helias) is just another team," junior setter Paige Benjamin said. "They're 0-0 and we're 1-0 right now. You never know what can happen."
Hailey Green had seven digs, three aces and one kill, while Benjamin added five aces and Grace Baucom finished with five kills and four digs to lead the Lady Mustangs.
"We just knew we had to get jacked out of our minds, and we had to play with confidence," Baucom said. "We just had to play our game."
Tessa Edgar had seven kills and two blocks for Versailles. Lendie Nolting finished with six assists for the Lady Tigers, who beat Eldon in three sets on Sept. 18. The Lady Tigers also held off the Lady Mustangs in three sets on Oct. 11 at the Versailles Invitational - going 4-1-1 in its own tournament - before dropping the final two games of the regular season.
"Our intensity level was down and we were not into the game like we normally are," Versailles coach Cheryl Wilson said.
After edging Versailles in the first set, Eldon jumped out to a 14-11 lead in the second set and went on a 7-0 run to make it 21-11. Benjamin had three aces and Baucom tallied two kills during the run for the Lady Mustangs.
"At practice, we spend 30 minutes a day working on serving deep, serving tough, moving to different spots, just mixing it up," Benjamin said. "Watching film on them, we knew that serve-receive wasn't a big (strong suit) for them. We really, really wanted to push it on them."
Versailles didn't go down without a fight. The Lady Tigers went on a 9-1 run to cut the deficit to 22-20, but the comeback fell just short.
"That's kind of what we've done all season," Wilson said. "I knew we had it in us, we just had to dig ourselves out of too big of a hole. Eldon just played a very good game."
Eldon scored the first four points in the first set and stayed in control until an ace by Edgar gave Versailles a 13-12 lead.
The teams traded points before the Lady Mustangs went on a 9-1 run, during which Green compiled three aces and one kill.
"It was huge for us, because we're such a mental team, and anything we do well obviously helps us," Clingman said. "We knew if we came out and got a run on them and we were aggressive, we could get them in kind of a slump."
Versailles won the next three points, but Rachel Leffert earned the final point of the first set with a kill to put Eldon on top and give the Lady Mustangs the momentum going into Game 2.
"We just really wanted to win," Benjamin said. "I felt like we deserved it. We really, really, really put in time. We worked on communicating and we worked on working together as a team."