PERRIN – For the first two games of Thursday night’s Perrin-Woodson volleyball match, Lady Pirate Coach Rebekah Bland was asking herself where her team was, the squad appearing in a funk.
Fortunately for Perrin, the squad rebounded in its final two games and posted a 21-25, 2520, 25-17, 25-16 victory over the Cowgirls.
For whatever reason, Perrin got off to a very slow start. Woodson’s Braylee Clark overcoming an early 5-2 deficit with three points to give the visitors a 6-5 lead.
Perrin’s front court led by Kennadee Langham, Landry Anderson, and Aaliyah Brown kept things close, Brown coming through with back-to-back aces to retake the lead at 10-9. Erika Hernandez and Jessa Angelly tied the game with single points with Langham’s deuce giving Perrin an 18-16 lead.
It would be the last Lady Pirate lead with Kiki Buse rolling off four straight to take a 21-18 lead and forcing Bland into a timeout. A Lainey Townsley kill set the table for her pair of serving points to end game one.
Woodson looked to keep things rolling in game two, jumping out to a 4-1 lead. Perrin determined at this point it had enough. Langham rolled off six straight points with three aces and Brown doing a nice job on the front court to give Perrin an 8-4 lead.
Woodson tied the game at eight with Clark serving up four points. It would be the last tie of the game with Perrin pulling away with points from Natasha Frissell and Hernandez staking the Lady Pirates to a 14-10 lead.
Three Frissell points extended the lead to 2114. A Landry Anderson kill set up game point which Hernandez delivered.
Woodson continued to hang in there in game three until a trio of Frissell points, including two aces, extended the lead to 9-4. Woodson would knot the game at 14 before Perrin broke serve and Jessa Angelly rolled off nine straight points. Langham, who was nursing a shoulder injury, did a job on the front court with a kill and a block to set up game point up 24-14.
Angelly brought Perrin back from a 2-0 deficit in the finale with a pair, aided by a Brown kill. Freshman Lucchese Reilly broke a 4-all deadlock with a pair.
Clark continued a strong offensive game for Woodson with four serving points to go up 9-6. It would be the last Cowgirl lead of the 87-minute match, however.
Frissell served up five straight points, including two aces, to force Woodson into a timeout down 9-12.
The visitors would eventually tie the match at 13 before Perrin broke serve and Hernandez served up two points for a threepoint lead. Angelly’s three-point string included two more aces to go up 2215. Brown’s kill again broke serve with Reilly finishing the job with a pair of points.
District 21-A play began Tuesday night in Garner (no results as of press time). Bland says at times her team is where she thought they’d be and at other times not. Graford joins the two other teams in district.
