WARDSVILLE - A lot of different sports claim the title "the game of inches," but on Thursday night, California made the case of the sport of volleyball to be mentioned in that discussion.
Blair Oaks used its height to dominate the attack, defeating California in straight sets (25-16, 25-12).
"If you had the same height they did, you can defend that," California head coach Julie Bailey said. "We have smaller girls who have good verticals, but it's still not the same as going up against someone six, seven inches taller than you."
Facing one of California's biggest rivals, the Lady Pintos knew they were in for a battle. Last year, California's win over Blair Oaks helped them tie for the conference title.
"They knew going in that it was a big game," Bailey said. "Some of our girls in the offseason play with a lot of these girls, so they know them really well. They know what kind of competition they are."
California started the first set down 3-0, then quickly fell behind 8-2 to the Lady Falcons. But the Lady Pintos forced Blair Oaks into a lot of errors to stay close midway through the set. The first 11 California points in the first were off Blair Oaks' errors.
Gracie George's block to cut the Lady Falcons' lead to 17-12 was the first point for California that wasn't off a Blair Oaks' error.
"Gracie George came in and did a really good job," Bailey said.
After that point, Blair Oaks went on a seven-of-eight point tear to take a commanding 24-13 lead. California scored the next three points before Blair Oaks finished things off.
"They're strong," Bailey said. "Allison Maxwell, she's tough to defend. When they have that much height on us, and that strong, that's tough to defend."
Maxwell - who was second on the team with six kills - had three kills in the first set, including the set-winning kill, and she recorded an ace.
Ryan Dudenhoeffer led the Lady Falcons with seven kills.
In the second set, Blair Oaks jumped out to an early lead again. Maxwell and Lizzy Holstein record two kills each, then combined for a block to take an early 5-1 advantage.
After four Blair Oaks' errors in five points, California had cut the deficit to 10-8, but the Lady Falcons score 15 of the next 19 points to close out the set and match.
Cameron Meyer had two kills late in the set to keep the Lady Pintos in the set. Meyer led the team with four of her team's nine kills. Adrienne Strickfaden was second with three.
"Cameron Meyer came out strong and got several kills," Bailey said. "In the first set, Adrienne (Strickfaden) was getting triple blocked, and that made it hard on her, so we had to take advantage of other hitters."
Despite the results, Bailey believes her team play its most complete game of the season. They just ran into a very tough opponent.
"I think that's the best we've played," she said. "We lost, but I was happy with what the girls did. We had better passing than we've ever had, we had better defensive digs than we've ever had and our hitters were on."
California totaled 20 digs in the contest, with Kayla Allison leading the group with five.
California's JVB team fell to the C-team of Blair Oaks 2-0 (25-18, 25-23), and the JVA team fell in straight sets (25-15, 25-17).
The Lady Pintos will host Eugene Thursday with the JVB match starting at 5:30 p.m., then they'll host Centralia on Monday at the same time.