Lady Jays defeat Lebanon in three sets

Maddi Stone of Jefferson City records a dig during Wednesday's match against Lebanon at Fleming Fieldhouse.
Maddi Stone of Jefferson City records a dig during Wednesday's match against Lebanon at Fleming Fieldhouse.

It was not the best start for Jefferson City on Wednesday against Lebanon, losing the first set 25-11.

But the Lady Jays led most of the second set and rallied from a six-point deficit in the third set to win 11-25, 25-23, 25-19 at Fleming Fieldhouse.

Jefferson City was down by as much as 14-8 in the third set.

A kill for Lebanon later made it 18-13 Lady Jackets before Jefferson City got rolling and scored the next nine points.

Maddi Stone got one of her team-leading eight kills to get the Lady Jays within two.

Setter Bailey Diehl, who led the Lady Jays with 34 assists, set up Tatum Gaines for a hard kill to cut the deficit to one.

Cameryn Campbell tied it up at 18 with one of her three aces. She capped off the 9-0 run with an ace to give Jefferson City a 22-18 lead.

"Cameryn is is definitely won of our old faithfuls," Lady Jays coach Lisa Hoffmeyer said. "She's a kid that you want the ball in her hands with the game on the line."

Lebanon ended the run with a Katie Esther kill, but the Lady Jays scored the final three points to get the three-set victory.

"I think we were more consistent in our attack and we were serving the ball consistently to the spots we were asking them to serve it to," Hoffmeyer said. "That created some momentum."

The first set was all Lady Jackets, as they led from start to finish.

Gaines kept it close early with a kill to get Jefferson City within 6-4, but Lebanon scored six if the next seven points.

Jefferson City got back within five at 14-9 before an 8-0 run for Lebanon.

With the score 23-11, the Lady Jackets used back-to-back kills to win the first set.

The Lady Jays' largest deficit in the second set was two when it was 10-8 Lebanon.

Janice Steacy, who had 22 assists, later set up Stone for a kill to give the Lady Jays an 11-10 lead and they never looked back.

Back-to-back aces for Gaines made it 13-10. Gaines used a different approach on her serves, hitting it just hard enough to get it over the net and fall in front of the Lady Jackets' back line.

"She was pretty pleased with herself because she finally hit that spot," Hoffmeyer said. "We knew that short ball in the middle of the court would probably score some points."

A block for Jefferson City capped off the 6-0 run.

Jefferson City got its lead to 20-14 thanks to an ace for Campbell, but Lebanon scored the next four to get within two.

Lebanon tied it at 23 with a kill, but Stephanie Fisher got her fifth kill of the night and Lebanon hit it into the net to tie the match at one set each.

"I think we had some success swinging down their line and finally found a spot that was working," Hoffmeyer said. "I think that first game we were just frustrated because they felt like they were trying everything they needed to do but Lebanon was doing a nice job of keeping everything alive."

Jefferson City (12-7-2) plays Saturday in the Lebanon Pink Fest before playing Hickman, Blair Oaks and Helias to close out the regular season.

"We know we're going to have some tough nights with that, but I think there's only one way to make it through a postseason and that's to play those types of games in the regular season," Hoffmeyer said.