POPLARVILLE, Miss. — The Pearl River volleyball team made quick work of Meridian Monday night inside Shivers Gymnasium, beating the Eagles in straight sets, 3-0 (25-18, 25-18, 25-20).
"Our record doesn't show it, but the volleyball is there. I'm confident in that. I know our potential and capabilities," head coach Haley Chatham said. "They've given plenty of splashes of that. We didn't play that well tonight, but we've been working on being mentally tough and willing ourselves to do things. Some of that came out tonight."
The opening set between Pearl River (10-20 overall; 4-3 MACCC) and Meridian (1-21; 0-6) was tightly contested well into the middle portion. The Wildcats didn't start to separate themselves until an Allie Richardson (Fruitdale, Ala.) kill sparked a bit of a rally. Morgan Mears (Hurley; East Central) followed with a kill, and a few plays later, Peyton Hoffmayer (Ocean Springs) blocked an attack attempt to take a 16-13 lead, forcing a Meridian timeout.
Just when it looked like PRCC had the momentum, the Eagles fought back to get within a point, 18-17. A well-timed Pearl River timeout halted the run there as an Annalaura Williford (Bay St. Louis; Our Lady Academy) kill was sandwiched between two Skyla Rann (Gonzales, La.; East Ascension) kills, 21-17. The Wildcats put the set to rest shortly after, 25-18.
The Wildcats were much more in control in the second set, jumping out to a quick seven-point, 10-3 lead over the Eagles. In the early run, Williford, Avery Wheat (Gonzales, La.; East Ascension) and Madi King (Leakesville; Greene County) each had kills.
Pearl River took an 18-9 lead juest before the 30-point mark when Madison Butler (Biloxi; D'Iberville) sent a ball across the court on the third hit and it fell beside an Eagle defender. The setter struck again a few points later, catching MCC off guard with a fake set for a point, 21-15.
Pearl River went on to take the second set 25-18.
Set three began similarly to the opening set of the night, with the teams battling each other throughout the early portion.PRCC eventually moved in front 9-7 following a Richardson kill. Following the point, the Wildcats were aided by some Meridian miscues and saw their lead expand to 17-10.
The lead soon grew to 21-12 to force an Eagle timeout. The Eagles made things tough on the Wildcats, fighting back into the match before PRCC finally closed things out with a 25-20 victory.
NEXT UP
The Wildcats hit the road Wednesday to take on Jones College. First serve in Ellisville is set for 5 p.m. The match will be livestreamed at JCBobcats.com/watch. Tickets can be purchased at JCBobcats.com/Tickets.
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