Down two sets to none to Hickman, Jefferson City wanted to flip the script.
"We talked about trying to write a new story of our season," Jefferson City coach Lisa Hoffmeyer said, "because we have not always responded as well as we would like to in some of those crucial moments.
"So down 2-0, what do we sound like? What do we look like? What's the energy in our gym? Those types of things we tried to really hit home with them."
The Lady Jays attacked the middle with Rhakala Blackmon, went outside to Kayla Walters and Claire Stegeman later added an ace for a 4-0 start.
Jefferson City finished the set with a 4-0 run to force a fourth, but Hickman got rolling late in that one to complete a 25-13, 25-22, 20-25, 25-19 victory Thursday night at Fleming Fieldhouse.
"I think it's kind of discipline, discipline, discipline for us," Hoffmeyer said. "Obviously we can make excuses and blame some of it on just a ton of transitions and lineups and rotations throughout. But I think at the end of the day we just have to do a better job of being disciplined and executing some of the smaller fundamentals of the game so that we can be successful at the higher-level stuff."
After falling behind 6-1 in the third set, Hickman chipped away and pulled within 12-11 on a Sydney Yaeger kill.
Then Jefferson City began to use its attack in the middle.
Blackmon slammed home a kill for a 14-12 lead, and Linthacum added two kills for a 16-13 margin.
Blackmon and Linthacum each had eight kills.
"Trying to get our middles involved a little bit more," Hoffmeyer said. "We know in order to be ultimately successful we need those guys attacking the ball more consistently."
Hickman did lead 19-18 when libero Brooke Nieder slapped one over for a kill before the Lady Jays scored seven of the final eight points of the set.
Stegeman and Kayla Walters added kills from the outside with a Blackmon kill sandwiched between for a 3-0 spurt. Walters led with 12 kills.
"They were generally leaving us three or four feet to attack down the line there and we had not taken a lot of advantage of it early on," Hoffmeyer said. "We were swinging their libero, was playing left back, and we were kind of going back into her.
"I think in that third set, our outsides especially, and our right sides also were attacking down the line, the edges of the court. They had a hard time defending those balls."
Elicia Theroff and Blackmon went back-to-back with kills to close out the third set.
Neither team could get much of an edge in the fourth set until an Emma Kingsley kill started a 5-0 run for the Kewpies.
Kingsley added another one for a 20-15 lead and Jerica Jackson skipped the ball off the fingertips of a Jefferson City blocker and beyond the reach of the Lady Jays' back line to close out the match.
Paige Reeser handled the setter duties, leading the way with 31 assists and adding a team-high 18 digs.
"She is a very, very stable force for us wherever we decide to use her," Hoffmeyer said. "She's a good one to have around. Good leader for us for sure."
Stegeman had four kills and 10 digs and Sydney Vogt tallied nine digs.
Hickman improves to 16-8-6 with the win.
Jefferson City (9-10-2) will play Saturday in the Ozark Tournament before hosting Blair Oaks on Tuesday.
The freshman and JV matches will start at 5 p.m. with the varsity to follow around 6:15 p.m.
The Lady Jays will close out the regular season next Thursday against Nixa at home before beginning district play Oct. 27 at Capital City High School.
Jefferson City is the No. 2 seed in Class 5 District 9 and will face No. 3 seed Sedalia Smith-Cotton in the first round. Helias is the No. 1 seed and Capital City is the No. 4 seed.
Jefferson City beat Hickman 26-24, 26-24 in the JV match.
Brianna Avey had 11 digs and five assists, Ava Reeser contributed 17 digs and Jada Murray added 12 digs and four kills.
Hickman won the freshman match 25-8, 25-16.
Kadence Kiesling finished with six assists and four digs.