POPLARVILLE, Miss. — When Pearl River and Itawamba meet on the volleyball court, you know it will be a match for the ages. The trend continued Tuesday evening as the Wildcats fought hard to pick up a 3-1 (25-15, 16-25, 25-22, 25-21) victory.

"What a good win for us at home. We needed that. We are learning that it is essential to really work to earn our points," head coach Haley Chatham said, "If battling back from deficits is going to put us in that mindset, so be it. I'm happy that we are coming to that realization as a team instead of depending on opponent errors or doing just enough to put the ball back over.

"Our setters did a great job of being deliberate on every ball they put up," she said. "They recognized ICC's defensive tendencies and put our hitters in good situations to be able to score."

SET ONE
Itawamba (7-14 overall; 1-2 MACCC) took a quick 4-1 lead before the Wildcats (11-9; 2-0) fought back to take their first lead of the match, 6-5 after Natalie Bartholomew (Brandon) sent a booming kill through a block attempt and out of bounds. 

Soon after, the lead grew to 10-7 when Abbie Franks (Ocean Springs) fired a kill off the hands of an Indian player and into the bleachers across the court. The lead grew to 15-10 when Addie McKneely (Brandon; Hartfield Academy) rose high above the net and slammed a ball down for a kill.

The Wildcats ran away with the set down the stretch to pick up a dominant 25-15 victory.

SET TWO
Pearl River worked its way into a big hole to start the second set, falling behind 9-1 almost instantly to force a PRCC timeout. The Indians then built out their lead to 14-5.

Sammie Smith (Biloxi; D'Iberville) made the deficit eight points at 19-8 when she launched a kill off a defender's hands into the rafters and down onto the court. 

Following a pair of Jolee Gibson (Brandon) service aces, Pearl River trailed by only five points, 20-15, but ICC held on to win 25-16. 

SET THREE
The third set was a true Pearl River, and Itawamba set as the teams tied six times throughout. After being locked at 5-5, Pearl River added a pair of points on a mishit by ICC and an ace from Gibson. 

The teams tied again at 8-8 before ICC surged ahead 14-10. The Wildcats responded despite the deficit, with Natalie Bartholomew (Brandon) picking up a kill after pushing a ball down onto the court and Smith and Abbie Franks (Ocean Springs) combining for a block, 14-12. The momentum propelled Pearl River to two more points to square the match up at 14-14.

The final tie was at 21-21 but was broken when Bartholomew sent a kill flying through a block attempt and into the entryway of Shivers Gymnasium for a point, 22-21. The momentum propelled the Wildcats to a 25-22 victory in the set.

SET FOUR
Pearl River had to fight back again in the fourth set after ICC rattled off six consecutive points to start things off. The Wildcats kept fighting and eventually squared up the game at 7-7 with the help of a Delaney Sisson (Auburn, Ala.) ace.

The Indians pulled ahead 15-11 at the set's midway point before PRCC went on yet another run. After tying it up at 15-15, ICC sent a serve that sailed over the back line. Bartholomew followed it up with arguably her hardest swing of the night that sent a ball off a player and out of bounds, 17-15.

Annalaura Williford (Bay St. Louis; Our Lady Academy) chipped in with a big kill late in the set to extend Pearl River's lead to 21-18. The set and match finally ended a few points later, 25-21, and was punctuated by a Bartholomew kill sent down on the court just in front of a defender.

LEADING THE WAY
Chatham talked about the play of Hannah French (Ocean Springs), Madi King (Leakesville; Greene County) and Williford.

"Hannah had a great match with a lot of solid digs and passes. I'm also proud of freshmen Madi and Annalaura for coming in and making a difference where we were exposed."

UP NEXT
Pearl River hits the road on Friday for a 1 p.m. match against Enterprise State and a 3 p.m. match against Lurleen B. Wallace. 

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