POPLARVILLE, Miss. — Pearl River showed continued growth during Monday's 3-0 (25-18, 25-20, 25-17) loss to Pensacola State at Shivers Gymnasium.
Pearl River (6-11 overall) had moments, specifically in the second set when it made a run late to force a Pensacola State (10-14) timeout.
Pensacola opened the match on a run, taking right of the first 10 points to force a PRCC timeout. The two teams traded points down the stretch, with PRCC making putting together a streak. Trailing 18-12, PRCC took 6 of 9, highlighted by a Madelyn Misita (Clinton) shallow chip into a vacated portion of the court and a tandem block — which was the first of several on the night — by Misita and Madison Smith (Madison; Germantown).
PSC took four of the final five points to secure the 25-18 win.
The second set was a much more evenly matched contest. Leah Draine (Mobile, Ala.; Mattie T. Blount) tied the set at 4-4 off of a Harleigh Lafontaine (Kiln; Hancock) backset.
Maleah Austin (Diamondhead; Hancock) placed the next serve in the back corner and then sent the very next one off of a PSC defender for a 6-4 lead. After a Pensacola point, Isabella Thoennes (Kiln; Hancock) picked up a kill off of an Austin cross-court pass.
PSC made a run, however, pulling ahead 9-7. PRCC fought back, tying the set on a Smith kill after her block and bounced off of a defender and right back to her for the left-handed slam.
PRCC made a run to pull within two, 19-17, and forced a Pirates timeout, but the visitors closed out the set to claim the 25-20 win.
An eight-point run midway through the third set put PSC up for the 25-17 victory.
NEXT UP
Pearl River returns to action Friday, hosting Southern Union State at 2 p.m.
HOW TO TUNE IN
All home events are broadcast on PRCCAthletics.com and PRCCMedia.com. Anyone who has an Amazon Fire or Roku device can stream PRCC broadcasts by downloading the "Pearl River CC" Channel from the app store.
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