Joy Northweather wanted her team to be exposed to a high level of competition early in the season.
The Blair Oaks head coach is already seeing the benefits after playing in the West Plains Tournament over the weekend.
The Lady Falcons jumped out to an early lead in both games Tuesday and held off two Eldon runs to claim a 25-19, 25-14 win against the Lady Mustangs at Jason Gym.
"I think this weekend was good for us," Northweather said. "We played some tough teams down at West Plains. The whole time down there, we fought and I saw that again tonight.
"I saw the confidence. Even after mistakes we didn't get down. We kept ourselves up and kept going."
Blair Oaks (6-1-2) finished second in pool play at the tournament to advance to the Gold Bracket, where the Lady Falcons fell to Batesville (Ark.) for its first loss of the season.
The Lady Falcons are hoping to use that experience to their advantage down the road.
"I think we faced some really good competition," said Blair Oaks sophomore Rebecca Schroeder, who led the Lady Falcons with five kills. "I think that's going to help us be prepared for our competition later in the season and as we get into our conference (play). I think having that experience is really going help play our best against those teams."
Allison Maxwell had four blocks while, Sadie Turner had 10 assists to help lead Blair Oaks, who only trailed Eldon (4-6) after the third point in the second set.
"They're a pretty scrappy team," Maxwell said. "We just had to keep our heads in it."
Blair Oaks jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the first set, but the Lady Mustangs didn't go away quietly.
A kill by Eldon junior Logan Reed tied the game at nine, but the Lady Falcons later responded with a 5-0 run extend their lead to 17-11. The teams split the next four points before Eldon went on a 3-0 run to make it 19-16.
"In the first set, we just kind of got stuck in a rut with a couple of serve receives and making silly errors like missing the serve," Eldon coach Elizabeth Cunningham said. "But I think overall in the first set, we definitely played really hard and kept up with them."
Lanie Berhorst and Maxwell tallied back-to-back kills for Blair Oaks, but Sidney Prater and Grace Baucom returned the favor to make it 21-18. Eldon followed with three straight unforced errors before Schroeder could put the opening set away with a kill.
"Honestly, we struggled blocking tonight," Northweather said. "I think when we kind of started timing it a little better, they stopped hitting into our blockers and our defense was able to pick it up."
Blair Oaks led 7-2 to open the second set, but Eldon later went on a 6-1 run to cut its deficit to two at 13-11. The Lady Falcons won the next five points to take an 18-11 lead and they didn't look back from there.
"I feel like whenever one person gets a kill or a big block or a big pass, that's whenever everyone bounces back like, "We're in it again,"' Maxwell said. "It takes that one person just to get that one big play and turn it around."
Maxwell, Taylor Stockman, Madison Abbott and Berhorst had two kills apiece, while Lizzie Rosslan chipped in with four assists to help pace Blair Oaks.
Baucom tallied seven kills, while Hailey Green had eight digs and Paige Benjamin finished with 10 assists to lead Eldon.
"The second set we just couldn't be aggressive in the front row," Cunningham said. "Our sets were too close to the net and we just weren't sure where to go. I think that probably made the biggest difference."
The Lady Mustangs will travel Monday to Sedalia Smith-Cotton, while the Lady Falcons will host California at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Jason Gym.
"Every match we're getting better and that's our goal," Northweather said. "That's the goal for our team, that's the goal for our season."
Blair Oaks also claimed a 25-9, 25-11 win against Eldon in the JV game.
Lizzy Holstein and Maggie Savage both had four kills, while Kailey Wieberg added one.
Jayde Peters had six assists and Emily Yaeger chipped in with four. Peters also finished with three aces to help lead the Lady Falcons (7-0).