Pirates knocked from the playoff ship

HENRIETTA – You could almost see the animosity of Prairie Valley’s volleyball team in warmups watching Perrin, the third place team out of District 10-A.

The Lady Dogs appeared almost too confident they would be moving on from the bi-district round of the Class A volleyball playoffs. Perrin appeared calm and focused and ready to show what they could do.

It would prove to be quite a bit, as Perrin forced a five-game thriller out of Prairie Valley, the Lady Dogs finally coming through with a 20-25, 25- 15, 21-25, 25-16, 15-9 win over the Lady Pirates.

Perrin took control of the opener early, using a pair of Karson Collier points, aided by a Nayeli Lopez kill for a 4-1 lead.

Three Gracie Turner tallies built the lead to 9-4 and forced a PV timeout. The Lady Dogs would go up 14-12 before Pacie McGee broke serve and tied the game at 14 with a point. PV went up 16-14 before Perrin broke serve and used five-post string to go up 20-16. The Lady Dogs would get no closer than three.

A 4-0 lead got PV off on the right foot in game two. Perrin would keep things close, Turner’s point keeping things within 10-11. A seven-point PV run would extended the lead to 22-11 before Perrin broke serve. Kamryn Staggs’ pair of points would be too late as PV evened the best-of-five series at a game each.

Points by Staggs and Collier, with some front court help via Lopez, put Perrin up 5-1 in game three. Prairie Valley went back up two only to have the Lady Pirates break serve and Aaliyah Brown serve up four points each with Staggs doing a good front court job on two of the points for a 13-10 cushion.

Prairie Valley led 18-16 and 20-18 before Perrin used a string to take a 22-20 lead. Brown would later finish the job, a Collier kill helping Perrin go up 2-1 in the match.

A pair of runs enabled Prairie Valley to go up 15-6 in game four. Staggs then used front court work by Lopez to get within 14- 19 but the Lady Pirates would get no closer, forcing a decisive match.

Staggs staked Perrin to a 2-0 lead in game five. before Prairie Valley took a 6-3 lead. Perrin stayed within one twice but would get no closer in taking the tough loss.