Jefferson City battles past Fatima for three-set victory

Paige Reeser of Jefferson City goes up to spike the ball during Thursday night's match against Fatima at Fleming Fieldhouse.
Paige Reeser of Jefferson City goes up to spike the ball during Thursday night's match against Fatima at Fleming Fieldhouse.

It might have been a three-set sweep for the Jefferson City Lady Jays on Thursday, but the Fatima Lady Comets didn't make it an easy win.

Jefferson City won the first set 25-14 thanks to a late 9-0 run, but Fatima led a little past halfway through the second and third sets in a battle of defensive effort.

"That's something we knew coming into tonight and something we've talked about in our locker room was the fact that they will probably frustrate us with their defense on multiple occasions," Jefferson City coach Lisa Hoffmeyer said after the Lady Jays won 25-14, 25-21, 25-22 at Fleming Fieldhouse, "because they're one of those teams that doesn't quit on a ball."

Fatima had six players record at least six digs in the match, led by Anna Crede's 13.

But the Lady Jays got a monster performance of four kills and three blocks from Rhakala Blackmon in the third set alone to keep Fatima from forcing a fourth set.

Blackmon finished with seven blocks.

"She's definitely a presence there in the middle of the court that we've kind of been missing, especially with our block," Hoffmeyer said of Blackmon, who was able to return from an extended absence. "She kind of slows down anybody's offense a lot."

Fatima took its final lead of the third set at 17-16 on one of Claire Nilges' team-high five kills.

"I was very proud of the way they played, especially that third game," Fatima coach Tracy Quin said. "They turned it around and really came together as a team and played a little bit better."

The Lady Jays followed with three straight points on a Paige Reeser block and an ace, and an assist from Hannah Vogt to Sydney Vogt for a kill to lead 19-17.

Reeser finished with a game-high 10 kills and 15 digs.

"Paige is one of those just absolutely solid consistent pieces no matter where you put her on the volleyball court," Hoffmeyer said. "Pretty amazing by her stepping up getting a couple of blocks tonight as well."

A Blackmon block made it 22-18 and she added her sixth kill of the match for a 23-20 lead.

Reeser ended the match with a kill off Hannah Vogt's 27th assist. Vogt had back-to-back aces during Jefferson City's 9-0 run in the first set.

Sydney Vogt scored back-to-back points on aces earlier in the set for a 13-8 lead.

"I would say we're serving on target 85 percent of the time pretty consistently," Hoffmeyer said. "Getting the ball right where we want it to go, which is a really, really big highlight for this group for sure."

Fatima recovered from a 3-0 deficit in the second set to lead 5-4.

Back-to-back kills for Hannah Moeller, who tallied four kills and seven digs, put Fatima ahead 16-15.

Leah Markway led Fatima with 14 assists and 10 digs.

"It all starts with defense," Quin said. "If you don't get passes to your setter then she's just got to throw the ball anywhere she can."

Abby Gentges tallied 11 digs at the libero spot and Samantha Bax added nine digs.

Jefferson City tied it at 16 on a strange sequence of events where the Lady Jays were ale to bump the ball around to Sydney Vogt, who got the ball over for a point with her fist.

Earlier, Vogt punched the ball over the net as she dove to the floor for a dig pull Jefferson City within 15-14.

"We talk about those effort balls a lot," Hoffmeyer said. "Just refusing to let the ball hit the floor. It's not always gonna be pretty when you play that way and that hard."

Vogt had 10 digs and six kills, Jordan Niermeyer recorded 16 digs at the libero spot, Claire Stegeman added 12 digs and five kills and Elicia Theroff had seven kills and two blocks.

Theroff, a sophomore, recently made the jump up from JV to varsity.

"I think she's kind of feeling a little bit more a part of the team these days after a couple of weeks in and settling into her role and responsibilities here," Hoffmeyer said.

Jefferson City (6-6-1) and Fatima will travel Saturday to Lebanon for the Lebanon Pinkfest.

In Thursday's JV match, Jefferson City won 25-22, 25-22 to improve its record to 6-2.

Lauren Reid had four aces and four assists, Brianna Avey contributed seven assists and two blocks, Jada Murray added five kills and two aces and Izabell Johnston tallied three blocks.

Fatima won the freshman match 25-13, 25-15.

Kadence Kiessling recorded eight digs and four assists, Riley Schonhardt contributed nine digs and Emma Winchester added six digs for Jefferson City.