POPLARVILLE, Miss. — The Pearl River volleyball team fought through another tough contest Tuesday night, winning a five-set battle against Bishop State 3-2 (25-22, 25-21, 13-25, 20-25, 15-13) inside Shivers Gymnasium.
“We are learning about ourselves and getting good experience in these matches leading up to conference play, which is exactly what we should be doing,” head coach Haley Chatham said. “Tonight, we learned that winning the first two sets doesn’t mean you can slow it down. It means you have to speed it up.”
PRCC let a two-set lead dwindle but pulled itself together in the fifth set to earn the victory.
“We pulled out the last set because we didn’t error much in the first eight points and had favorable matchups for the last seven,” Chatham said. “I like to see them gut it out and prove themselves early in fifth-set matches. We will lean on these kind of matches down the road.”
Pearl River (3-4 overall) took a 9-6 lead early in the day’s opening set when Oliva Shirley (Hattiesburg; Oak Grove) sent a kill onto the court.
The Wildcats stretched their lead to 15-11, which forced a Bishop State (1-5) timeout. Things didn’t change out of the break as PRCC immediately picked up another point on an Avery Wheat (Gonzales, La.; East Ascension) block, 16-11.
BSCC fought all the way back to square up the opening set at 20 apiece to force Chatham to call a timeout. After talking it over with her team, PRCC came right out and put an end to the set, 25-22.
Set two was as back-and-forth as any this season, with the teams sitting at 9-9 through the first 18 points. PRCC picked up two points on Bishop State miscues before Morgan Mears (Hurley; East Central) and Annalaura Williford (Bay St. Louis; Our Lady Academy) picked up back-to-back kills to make the score 13-9.
Although Pearl River seemed to be in control, Bishop State roared back to even things up at 21 each. A Campbell Bailey (Elberta, Ala.; St. Michael’s) kill pushed Pearl River back in front, and the momentum swing helped it take the set, 25-21.
PRCC let off in each of the third and fourth sets, and Bishop State took advantage. BSCC dominated set three to win 25-13 and battled through a late 19-19 tie in set four to win it 25-20, setting up a decisive set five.
PRCC took a 7-4 advantage quickly in the fourth set, powered by a Shirley kill and a Sophie Warren (Brandon) ace — forcing a Bishop State timeout.
BSCC’s timeout adjustments made a difference as it took a 9-8 lead out of it. The teams traded points out to 11-11, and the Wildcats eventually ended the match thanks to a Peyton Hoffmayer (Ocean Springs) kill, 15-13.
UP NEXT
Pearl River heads to Hanceville, Ala. on Friday for the Alabama/Mississippi Crossover tournament. The Wildcats take on Lurleen B. Wallace at 4 p.m. and Lawson State at 7 p.m.
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