POPLARVILLE, Miss. — The No. 18 Pearl River volleyball team's record-setting season came to an end Saturday, falling in a hard-fought match to Itawamba 3-0 (25-22, 25-21, 25-20).
"What I told them in the locker room is that some days just aren't your day. Every once in a while, you have a day like today," head coach Haley Chatham said. "During this season that we had together, we had so many days that were our day that there is no way we can dwell on this one. They did a lot of things that they didn't know they were capable of and that I didn't know they were capable of. This year was the best experience I've had here so far, no doubt. I'm just super proud of all of the things that they accomplished.
"Huge credit to ICC, they played lights out tonight."
MAKING HISTORY
Pearl River (27-4 overall) made history by becoming the first Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference team to break into the national rankings, finishing the year ranked 18th.
The Wildcats eclipsed the 20-win mark for the first time ever as well as mounting a 16-match win streak on the year.
The Wildcats dominated their opponents over the duration of the season as 21 out of 27 of their wins were in straight sets.
SET ONE
The Wildcats jumped out to a 5-1 lead over Itawamba (19-10) to open the first set of the day, grabbing points on aces by Julianah Overstreet (Vancleave) and Allison Carpenter (Ocean Springs) as well as kills by Leah Drain (Mobile, Ala.; Mattie T. Blount) and Diamond Jones (Gonzales, La.; East Ascension)
The Indians then rallied back to take a 7-5 lead. Four consecutive points by the Wildcats gave them a 9-7 lead.
At that point, every PRCC point was matched by ICC as the teams eventually battled out to a 22-22 tie before the Indians put away the set 25-22.
SET TWO
ICC built out a 6-3 lead in the second set of the day before the Wildcats stormed back to take an 8-7 lead after an Overstreet kill.
The Indians evened the set up at 8-8 before going on a 5-7 run to make the score 13-10.
A few points later Pearl River tied the match up at 14 after a Leighton Willoughby (Brandon; Northwest Rankin) tip hit the hands of a leaping Itawamba player and fell to the court.
The teams matched each other's points for a bit before the Indians put away the second set 25-21.
SET THREE
PRCC grabbed the first three points of the third set highlighted by back-to-back Avery Beth Durdin (Olive Branch; Lewisburg) aces to give the Wildcats an early 3-0 lead, but the Indians stormed back to take a 7-5 lead.
Two points later, a Hannah Burks (Ocean Springs; Vancleave) kill evened the match up at 7-7.
The teams traded blows deep into the set eventually finding themselves all knotted up at 16.
The Indians then closed out the set 25-20 to take the match.
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