WARDSVILLE, Mo. - The Blair Oaks Lady Falcons started quick, but it was the Helias Lady Crusaders who had the better finishing kick in Thursday night's volleyball showdown.
The Lady Falcons won five of the first seven points in front of an electric crowd at Blair Oaks, only to eventually drop a first set that featured several big runs.
The Lady Crusaders then dominated throughout the second set, eventually claiming a 25-22, 25-13 victory.
"I knew (the Lady Falcons) were going to come out strong and pumped up, and they did," Helias head coach David Harris said. "They got to that lead, but you can only go so far on emotion. Then things started calming down and we weathered that storm and were able to keep our composure pretty well. ... We came out with a really good win for us on their home court."
After a big win against Fatima one week ago, Blair Oaks coach Joy Northweather was hoping to make it two in a row against state-ranked programs.
"Helias is a quality program, and when you start doubting yourself, you're in trouble," she said. "I felt like at times on the court, we let that doubt creep in.
"Against Fatima, we played a near-perfect game. It's frustrating for the girls and myself to come out here and not play like that again."
After Blair Oaks raced out to that 7-2 lead in the first set, Helias responded by winning 14 of the next 18 to lead 16-11. Harris said the key to getting back into the set was plugging away.
"In an environment like this, where they came out pumped up after we'd been hearing how they were out to get us and all those kind of things, we knew that we just had to make them play the ball," he said. "Not that we were not going to be aggressive, but we wanted to get serves in, hits in, and if it takes 10 rallies back and forth across the net to win a point, that's fine."
But four straight points - on kills by Allison Maxwell and Paige Rackers and a kill and a block by Taylor Stockman - started a streak for Blair Oaks that put the Lady Falcons ahead 21-19.
However, Helias got the lead right back thanks to a kill by Suzie Kuensting, a block by Hannah Eynard and a kill by Hannah Borchelt. The Lady Crusaders never trailed again in the match.
"We had way too many stretches where we were just giving away points with errors," Northweather said. "... You can't expect for things to go your way when you're playing like that. We just weren't sharp."
Helias raced out to a 5-1 lead in the second set, the last two points coming on an ace by Maddie Dunkmann and a kill by Borchelt. Borchelt, a right-side hitter, had five kills as Helias raced out to a 10-3 lead and ended up with a match-high 10.
"She's been one of our top attackers all year," Harris said. "A lot of teams don't have a strong right-side attack, so a lot of people don't work against that a lot in practice. Most everything is outside or middle, so when you have a strong right side, it's a little different. Plus, she's left-handed, so that's another little extra thing the defense has to consider."
Helias' lead never dipped below six points after that, and the Lady Crusaders went on to win by 12.
"One of the keys, especially in the second game, was we served really tough," Harris said. "It took them out of their offense - they were out-of-system quite a bit. We only missed one serve all night."
Helias improved to 17-1, while Blair Oaks fell to 15-2. The teams will likely be the top two seeds in the Class 3 District 12 Tournament that Blair Oaks will host later this month.
"It's what we talked about in the locker room - I let them know that this is not the one that ends the season," Northweather said. "I think we showed in the first set, even though we didn't play great, that we're not a team that's just going to lay down and be easy to beat. We're planning on bringing it in three weeks. We're not done.
"... We have a lot of matches coming up in the next two weeks and we're going to do our best to be ready. We've got three weeks and hopefully we'll have a different result."
Blake Berhorst and Clarissa Fennessey had seven digs apiece to pace Helias, while Ashley Dudenhoeffer had six to go with her match-high 23 assists. Kuensting and Eynard had two blocks each.
For Blair Oaks, Stockman led the way with seven kills and Maxwell had six. Sadie Turner had 12 assists and Rebecca Schroeder had nine digs.
In the JV match, Blair Oaks posted a 12-25, 25-17, 25-22 win.
Maddie Nolph had six kills and three aces for the Lady Falcons (17-0), while Ali Juergensmeyer had 13 assists and Victoria Turner had seven digs.
Amie Henson had 16 assists and 12 digs for Helias (21-2-1). Callie Henson and Riley Bernskoetter had 11 kills apiece, Bradi Berhorst had 11 digs and Elisabeth Mealy had eight service points.
Helias won the freshman match 25-11, 25-15.
Krystal Brauner had 10 digs and 14 service points for the Lady Crusaders (22-0). Olivia Farrow and Danielle Kroll had four kills each, while Jada Oldham had six assists.
Gianna Galuzzio and Sydney Rackers had three kills each for Blair Oaks (8-4-1). Katelyn Weber had seven digs and Claire Smith had six assists.
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