POPLARVILLE, Miss. — The Pearl River volleyball team had to work for it Wednesday night inside Shivers Gymnasium against Southwest but secured its third straight set victory of the year, 3-0 (25-23, 27-25, 25-14).
"Something was getting to us in the first two sets," head coach Haley Chatham said. "We were riddled with errors, and we barely hung on. We were lucky to get through those. I'm glad we could work through that and pull this one out. We will have some things to work on and fix before this weekend."
Pearl River (4-0 overall) got off to a good start in the match, taking an 11-4 lead over first-year program Southwest (0-4). In a six-point run, Mallory Hesterman (Brooklyn; HomeLife Academy) had a kill, Lila Willett (Chelsea, Ala.) had a pair of kills, and Morgan Mears (Hurley; East Central) added a block.
The Bears clawed back into the set, though, going on to even things up at 13 apiece. The teams went on to tie six more times in the set before an Avery Wheat (Gonzales, La.; East Ascension) kill and a Jordyn Wilks (Hammond, La.; Hammond Magnet) ace wrapped up the set, 25-23.
The second set was riddled with errors for the Wildcats, allowing the Bears to remain within striking distance. Thankfully for Pearl River, it did just enough to stay in control late. Willett added three big kills down the stretch of the set before finishing it off with a 27-25 victory to take a 2-0 set lead.
Set three looked more like the Pearl River volleyball team Wildcat fans had seen so far this season. Pearl River had a commanding 13-3 lead sixteen points into the set. Reagan Ziegler (Lacombe, La.; Lakeshore) and Wheat had two kills apiece while Willett racked up three. During the early run, Claire Smith (Coldwater; Lewisburg) also had an importantdiving dig that led to a Wildcat point.
Pearl River continued to pile on down the stretch and finished off the set with a dominant 5-0 run — aided by a Skyla Rann (Gonzales, La.; East Ascension) kill and a Ziegler block, 25-14.
NEXT UP
Pearl River returns to action Friday and Saturday for the Pensacola State tournament. The entirety of the tournament will be livestreamed at PirateNetwork.live.
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