It's been five years since the Jefferson City volleyball team has won its season-opener. That streak ended Tuesday night against the same opponent the Lady Jays defeated in the 2012 season-opening contest.
The Lady Jays dominated the first and third sets, beating Rock Bridge 25-8, 18-25, 25-10 at Fleming Fieldhouse.
"The kids are excited," Lady Jays coach Lisa Hoffmeyer said. "They want to be better than any team they've seen come through in their tenure here at Jeff City. That was their plan, that's what they wanted to do."
Jefferson City got swinging right off the bat, but hit two out of play to trail 2-0.
Baylee Rozier and Stephanie Fisher got the Lady Jays going as they had back-to-back kills for a 9-4 lead.
"A couple big hits early then they all of a sudden have some have a little momentum and morale is moving in the right direction," Hoffmeyer said. "We were just able to capitalize and kind of kept them down in that first set."
Fisher's second of four kills for the match made it 13-5.
"I thought Stephanie Fisher was a game-changer for us tonight," Hoffmeyer said. "I think she really was the momentum for us in both of our winning sets."
The 8-0 run continued as Rozier had two aces and Annabelle Maassen added a block and a kill off Veronica Allison's assist.
Rock Bridge stopped the run with a block before the Lady Jays scored six of the next eight to take the first set.
Maassen led the Lady Jays with seven kills, adding six digs and a pair of blocks.
"It's been really fun to see her come out of her shell this year," Hoffmeyer said. "Last year she had a pretty similar talent set. This year we've seen that same talent set and she feels comfortable taking a ball from somebody and attacking the ball hard."
Rock Bridge never trailed in the second set, scoring the first five points and taking a 12-4 lead after kills from Rilee Arey and Jane Muga.
Jefferson City went on a 9-1 run to tie it at 13 as Corrin Lepper had a block and a kill and Maassen added a kill.
The Bruins scored the next two points and never let the Lady Jays get any closer to win the second set and force a third.
"We were really struggling in serve-receive," Hoffmeyer said. "A couple rotations, we swung it one way then we swung it the other way with our serve-receive just trying to figure out which three kids were going to be able to get the ball up in the air."
Allison and Maassen teamed up for the first point of the third set to start a 4-0 run. Allison led Jefferson City with 34 assists.
A kill and an ace cut it to 4-2 before another 4-0 run for Jefferson City made it 8-2.
Rozier's team-leading fifth ace extended the advantage to 17-7 and Maassen had back-to-back kills for a 22-9 lead.
Lepper glided the ball over the Bruins' front line and fell in the middle of the floor to end the match.
Hoffmeyer said she liked the team chemistry and how the Lady Jays responded after losing the second set.
"We've told them over and over the thing that's going to be able to make them different and make them special is that they are pretty mentally tough kids," she said.
Jefferson City takes its 1-0 record to Hermann on Thursday. The varsity match will start at about 7 p.m.
Jefferson City won Tuesday's JV match 25-14, 25-20. Sydney Vogt led the Lady Jays with four kills. Kayla Walters added three blocks.
Rock Bridge won the freshman match 25-16, 25-16. Jada Otiker had two kills and Josephine Turner recorded two aces for Jefferson City.