WARDSVILLE - The Blair Oaks Lady Falcons volleyball team was glad to finally be playing at home for the first time this season Tuesday night. Fans were decked in green from wall to wall in the gym.
Actually, there may have been too much green.
With the New Haven Lady Shamrocks coming to town, players for both teams sported green tops, but the color coordination did not confuse the Lady Falcons. Blair Oaks won 25-20, 25-17 against last year's Class 1 state runner-up.
"Lots of green in the gym," Lady Falcons coach Joy Northweather said. "Looking around, between the curtains on the stage and our bleachers and everything else, it was pretty green."
New Haven was a new addition to the Lady Falcons' schedule this fall to bulk up the strength of the team's schedule. Both teams were undefeated entering Tuesday's match.
"The girls were excited and ready to play," Northweather said. "They went out and took care of business."
Blair Oaks won the first four points and never trailed in the first set. Back-to-back kills from Lizzy Holstein and Alexa Stegmann extended the lead to 18-10, forcing New Haven to call a timeout.
The Lady Shamrocks scored three of the next four points after the timeout and closed the gap to within four points late in the set. Finally, on their fifth set point, the Lady Falcons took advantage of a New Haven service error to win the first set 25-20.
The second set was a back-and-forth battle in the early going. Blair Oaks began to pull away after Sadie Turner recorded back-to-back aces to stretch the Lady Falcon lead to 16-9.
"We want to serve aggressively every match we play," Northweather said.
The longest volley of the night occurred with Blair Oaks leading 20-12 in the second set. The Lady Falcons had three straight kill attempts, but the Lady Shamrocks were able to get the dig each time and extend the volley.
Finally, the fourth time was the charm for Blair Oaks. Allison Maxwell recorded one of her team-high nine kills to finish the volley and the Lady Falcons were able to put away the second set.
"I was over there on the sideline going, "Win this point, win this point,'" Northweather said. "It was big for us. Staying focused, staying ready, keeping going. Those are the fun points."
Northweather said New Haven's defense kept pushing Blair Oaks, which is exactly what she was looking for when the Lady Shamrocks were added to the schedule.
"It was an important win for us," Northweather said. "I do know they're a quality program. I'm just looking forward to keeping the competition going with them."
Paige Rackers had six kills and five digs for the Lady Falcons, while Holstein added five kills. Maxwell and Ryan Dudenhoeffer each had four blocks, Rebecca Schroeder had five digs and Turner and Jayde Peters finished with 14 and 12 assists, respectively.
Blair Oaks (3-0) will host Warsaw in a Tri-County Conference match Thursday.
"We're still going through some stretches where we're giving away too many points, but we're improving every game," Northweather said. "Their goal is to continue to cut down (on mistakes)."
Blair Oaks won the JV match 25-8, 25-7. Maddie Nolph recorded six kills and Lanie Lowry and Morgan Hoecker each had three kills. Ali Juergensmeyer had 11 service points.
The Lady Falcons made it a clean sweep of New Haven by winning the C team match 25-7, 25-13. Kale Hoelscher had five kills, Madison Mitchell finished with eight assists and Sydney Rackers served eight aces.