Jefferson City had it rolling, closing out the first set against Blair Oaks on a 7-2 run.
"I felt like we had a game plan and we executed and then let it go," Lady Jays coach Lisa Hoffmeyer said.
Blair Oaks regrouped, made the adjustments and closed out the match to win 20-25, 25-16, 25-20 Tuesday at Fleming Fieldhouse.
"After that first set they realized they had to step it up and be better defensively than what they were doing," Lady Falcons coach McKenzie Bennett said. "In the second and third sets they did a really good job defensively, as well as being smart offensively."
Blair Oaks opened the second set with a 5-1 lead as Lauren Casey sandwiched a kill between two Mariah Radmacher kills.
Annabelle Maassen brought the Lady Jays back with three straight kills for a 6-5 advantage.
"Annabelle is a stud," Bennett said. "It didn't matter where she was hitting from, we knew we had to be ready. Annabelle does a great job placing the ball. Luckily toward the end of the second set and then during the third set we were able to pick up where she was putting the ball."
Neither team led by more than one until a 4-0 spurt put Blair Oaks ahead 12-9. Lainie Lowry, who had 10 kills, skipped the ball off the top of the net and down to the floor to cap the run.
Blair Oaks later used three straight points for a 21-14 lead and a late kill from Emma Schroeder helped close out the second set.
"I think we just weren't making adjustments," Hoffmeyer said. "They were beating us in a couple areas. Their middle was going faster than our block was, and they were swinging down the line and we kelp blocking angle for some reason. Just adjustments happening too late."
A Kayla Walters kill and an ace from Paige Reeser helped the Lady Jays begin the third set with a 4-1 lead.
But Radmacher, who led Blair Oaks with 17 kills, pulled the Lady Falcons within one with a kill and Morgan Hoecker added a kill for a 6-5 lead. Jefferson City tied it five times the rest of the way, but never led again.
Maassen knotted it at 14 with a kill before Lowry answered with a kill to take the lead for good.
Maassen had 13 of the Lady Jays' 28 kills.
"We didn't distribute the ball as well as we'd like to," Hoffmeyer said. "It was part of game plan in trying to keep our offense creative a little bit."
Maassen also recorded 12 digs. Reeser tallied 24 assists and 10 digs, while Rylie Bohanon led with 18 digs.
Madison Mitchell racked up 40 assists for Blair Oaks, while Tori Martin had a team-high 12 digs.
Blair Oaks (27-2-1) wraps up the regular season Thursday against Versailles at home. The freshman match will start at 5:30 with the JV playing at about 6:30 p.m. and varsity starting around 7:30 p.m.
Jefferson City (15-13-3) is off until next Tuesday when it plays fourth-seeded Rolla in the Class 4 District 8 Tournament at Washington.
The Lady Jays are the No. 5 seed in the six-team district. The Jefferson City-Rolla winner will face top-seeded Eureka next Wednesday in the semifinals.
Blair Oaks won Tuesday's JV game 25-17, 25-20 to improve to 20-6-1. Peyton Bohl led the Lady Falcons with eight kills, while Paige Henry had 16 assists and two aces. Madison Irvin led Blair Oaks in digs with 10.
Sarah Linthacum and Taylor Roettgen each had four kills for the Lady Jays.
The Blair Oaks freshman team is 23-4 after winning 25-20-25-11. Kennedy Flanner had five kills for Blair Oaks.
Tabenyah Stewart and Shelby Mell each had three kills for Jefferson City (6-21-1).