WARDSVILLE - Fatima had undefeated Blair Oaks on the ropes Thursday.
The Lady Comets scored the first six points of the first set and ran away with a 25-16 win, but the Lady Falcons played like they're accustomed to the rest of the way and won the next two sets 25-23, 25-13 to improve to 15-0 this season.
"These girls want it, they work hard and it was great that they got pushed tonight," Blair Oaks coach Joy Northweather said. "The girls had fun. It's good to be pushed. That competitiveness comes out a little bit more in you."
Courtney Wolfe kicked off the match with an ace for Fatima and Megan Werdehausen capped off the 6-0 start with a block.
"I think it was communication and serve-receive overall," Blair Oaks hitter Allison Maxwell. " That didn't help any."
The Comets were off an running and it was the defense that made the difference.
Werdehausen got another block to make it 11-5.
Allison Maxwell got Blair Oaks within 17-14, but Fatima scored eight of the final 10 points to take the first set.
Ellie Crede, a freshman, finished it off with a kill.
"They knew Fatima was going to come in strong," Northweather said. " For them to maintain their composure and understand and have the confidence to go back out there and get the job done."
Maxwell got things rolling for the Lady Falcons in the second set.
She made it 2-0 with a kill and answered a Werdenhausen kill with one of her own for a 4-2 lead.
Fatima took a 9-8 lead before Paige Rackers and Maxwell gave Blair Oaks the lead back with back-to-back kills.
Werdehausen tied it back up with a kill as the score was tied five more times in the second set.
Maxwell knotted it up at 12 with a kill and Blair Oaks got its lead to 14-12, but a hit out of bounds and Crede's kill tied it at 14.
The final tie of the set was 19-all when Lauren Casey got a block.
An ace for Rebecca Schroeder got it to 24-21 Blair Oaks but two attack errors got Fatima back within one.
Blair Oaks finished it off though, with Sadie Turner setting up Maxwell for another kill.
"We didn't want to lose," Maxwell said. "We really pulled it together and started playing as a team."
And it was the Lady Falcons' ability to finish that saved them in the third set.
A Werdehausen kill tied it at 9 and an attack error for Blair Oaks gave Fatima a 10-9 lead.
The rest of the set belonged to Blair Oaks.
A Casey kill made it 17-12 Blair Oaks.
Maybe the best play of the night came when Maxwell went to her right and used her fist to hit the ball over the net and Fatima's block attempt went into the net. It made it 20-12 for the sixth point of a 7-0 run. Maxwell led Blair Oaks with 13 kills and five blocks.
A Fatima block made it 21-13 before the Lady Falcons scored the final four points for the victory.
"I think it shows our resilience as a team," Maxwell said.
A set from Jayde Peters to Ryan Dudenhoeffer capped off the match.
Peters led the Lady Falcons with 21 assists. Turner had 17 assists.
"It really came to us actually starting to pass the ball and letting our setters run the offense," Northweather said.
Rackers and Alexa Stegmann totaled eight and seven kills, respectively.
Stegmann also had eight digs. Schroeder also finished with eight digs.
Crede led Fatima with eight kills. Wolfe and Emma Markway each had eight assists.
Buthod finished with 10 digs. Werdehausen and Crede each had five blocks.
Fatima (8-9) plays Monday at Russellville.
Blair Oaks' next match is Thursday at Helias.
Blair Oaks won the JV match against Fatima, 25-8, 25-15 to improve to 19-1-1.
Morgan Hoecker had six kills while Ali Juergensmeyer led with 13 assists. Maggie Savage recorded four blocks.
The Lady Falcons also won the C-team match, 25-15, 25-20.