As the Notre Dame bench erupted in cheers and half-ran, half-skipped onto the volleyball court, Alexa Clark fell to the floor. Overcome by emotion, the senior was on the verge of tears.
Behind Clark's 12 kills and an outstanding defensive effort, Notre Dame had just won the SEMO Conference Tournament championship, beating defending champion Jackson, 25-19, 25-13, in Thursday's final at the Cape Girardeau SportsPlex.
Just two days earlier, the Bulldogs had lost in straight sets to Jackson.
"That definitely put a fire under our butts," Clark said.
"We just all came out in this game after losing [Tuesday] and were like, 'We're winning.' There was absolutely no way we were losing tonight. We just set our minds to that."
Heading into the championship game, Jackson had won the previous three meetings between the two teams, dating back to last season. That included two victories this season. The third time was the charm for the Bulldogs (15-12-1).
"We had worked so hard all season for this, and every single person stepped up tonight, and we were all playing for each other," Clark said. "We just really needed this, and we were so happy to win."
It's Notre Dame's third tournament title in the four-year history of the event.
Rachel Essner set Clark up through the night, finishing with 13 assists. Sarah Brennan added 11 assists and 11 digs, and her serve keyed a pivotal run in the first set.
Libero Megan Heisserer led the defense with a team-high 15 digs, and Grace Landewee chipped in five blocks.
"Notre Dame played phenomenal," Jackson coach Dave Mirly said. "They passed really well. They served really well. They attacked really well."
Jackson nearly forced a third set, saving one match point. But on the Bulldogs' second match point, Rylee McClintock forced a hit through the Jackson block, setting off the raucous celebration and causing Clark to fall to her knees.
"It didn't come down to who wanted it more or anything like that," Mirly said. "It just came down to Notre Dame played much better than we did tonight. We made mental mistakes. We were in the net. We let balls that were going out, we kept playing them.
"Big times where it was a simple play, we just didn't make it and they made them over and over and over again. So kudos to them for doing that."
Coming off a grueling three-set win over Poplar Bluff in the semifinals, Jackson (25-8-2) took a 13-9 lead in the first. But Notre Dame didn't falter.
The Bulldogs pulled within 17-16 and then won six straight points on Brennan's serve to take a 22-17 lead and held on for the opening-set win.
The Indians had also dropped the first set to the Mules and came back to win. They couldn't pull it off twice.
In the second set, Notre Dame took the lead for good at 4-3 and then held off a late Jackson charge.
"We've had a long season of just kind of being inconsistent from start to finish," Notre Dame coach Meridith Brinkmeyer said. "You never know kind of how we're going to play, but I thought tonight the girls played hard. I know we've been really practicing on us earning all our points and not relying on people to give us points and trying not to give up too many points, and I think the girls executed that very well tonight."
Jackson got within 23-22, but a McClintock kill extended that advantage back to two and gave the Bulldogs two match points. Jackson saved the first one thanks to a couple spectacular digs from Hannah Wilson, who finished with 26 digs, and drew within 24-23.
Brinkmeyer took a timeout, and coming out of the break, McClintock sealed the win and the championship with her kill.
"They have powerful hitters, and they can do a lot," Mirly said. "I felt like our serving and our attacking didn't bother them like it did the first two times we played them this year. They were able to get their ball to their hitters because Tuesday and first time we played them, they couldn't get the ball to Clark very much. Their defense played phenomenal tonight."
Lainey Broussard had 20 assists for Jackson, and Olivia Ward had a team-high seven kills.
With the regular season complete, the Indians now turn their attention to the Class 4 District 1 Tournament, which they are hosting as the top seed.
"I'm still proud of our girls," Mirly said. "They showed heart. They came out and did everything they could. Sometimes you bring your 'A' game and sometimes you don't."
Brinkmeyer hopes the Bulldogs can carry the momentum from this championship win into the postseason and the Class 3 District 1 Tournament.
"It's just a great way to finish up right before districts," Brinkmeyer said. "That's the thing that we really needed. I'm looking forward to Monday night at districts and I hope the girls kind of carry this feeling over and understand we can do this, we can play a clean game from start to finish."