It was difficult for the Jefferson City Lady Jays to get into a rhythm Thursday against Waynesville.
They found some about midway through the first set with a 6-0 run and they recovered from a 6-1 deficit in the second set to defeat the Lady Tigers 25-13, 25-21 at Fleming Fieldhouse.
"They had a pretty difficult time siding out tonight more so than we would like to," Jefferson City coach Lisa Hoffmeyer said. "They created a couple service runs on their end, so obviously that's something we want to tidy up on our end.
"Make sure we're getting our feet to the ball, not reaching, not relaxing, but staying committed, staying consistent, staying aggressive."
The teams went back and forth early with Annabelle Maassen tapping one over for a 3-1 lead, but Olivia Kirschner gave Waynesville a 4-3 advantage with a kill.
With the score tied at 9, Kayla Walters and Maassen got kill each during a 4-0 spurt.
The Lady Jays later scored six consecutive points, including an ace from Rylie Bohanan and a kill from Sarah Linthacum to lead 19-11.
Maassen and Walters each added two more kills for a 24-13 lead before Walters spiked one just in front of a Waynesville player playing near the back line in the corner to take the first set.
"They were playing really deep defense on the left side, kind of an untraditional look from them defensively," Hoffmeyer said. "So I think our girls were just a little unsure of where they could go with the ball in order to score points."
A few Jefferson City (11-1-1) errors and a Aldon Pilz kill put the Lady Tigers ahead 6-1 to begin the second set.
Maassen ended that run by tapping the ball over Waynesville's front line and Paige Reeser added an ace to cut it to 6-4.
Jefferson City eventually took the lead at 14-13 when Reeser found the back corner and the Lady Jays took the lead for good on a Linthacum block at 16-15.
It was one of just four blocks for the Lady Jays on the night, which led to a lot of work for libero Bohanan, who had 17 digs.
"She's been playing really tough for us back there making the attackers' job really hard," Hoffmeyer said.
Reeser added a block for a 24-19 lead and Walters closed the match with her eighth kill.
Maassen led with 13 kills to go with eight digs. Reeser had 22 assists and seven digs.
After playing eight matches in the past six days, the Lady Jays get some time off before playing Tuesday at Battle.
"It's been a tough run for them," Hoffmeyer said. " I think a weekend off will do us some good."
Jefferson City defeated Waynesville in the JV match 25-17, 25-7 to put its record at 3-4.
Claire Stegeman had 10 kills and five digs, Hannah Linthacum tallied nine blocks and six kills and Abby Blake recorded 24 assists.
In the freshman match, the Lady Jays won 25-19, 25-21 to improve their record to 6-6.
Elicia Theroff had game highs in kills with seven and blocks with three. Brooklyn Morrow finished with eight digs and five assists, Grace Spalding added 10 digs and five kills and Lauren Reid had seven assists and six digs.