Perkins wins 4th match in 6 days

PERKINS TWP. — The past week has been long, hot and taxing for the Perkins volleyball team. The good news for the Pirates is they came out of it without dropping a match or even a set. In another scorcher inside the Perkins gym, the Pirates grinded past Edison 25-12, 25-21, 25-20 in Northern Ohio Conference crossover action Thursday. Perkins defeated Lexington last Saturday, Bellevue on Monday and Port Clinton on Tuesday before the win over Edison. "We've been serving really well and I'm proud of that," Perkins coach Brandon Duvall said. "I thought our passing was pretty good. This is our fourth match in six days. This time, we're in another hot gym in our own gym. I understand why they're lagging a little bit and not getting to certain balls. "The problem is was this gym was this temperature for a few weeks over the summer." The Pirates (6-1) used some big serving to jump on the Chargers (2-5) in Set 1. Four aces from Brooklyn Cassidy and a kill from Viera Walker gave Perkins a quick 8-3 lead. Braelyn Davie served up an ace before blocks from Reese Schaefer and Olivia Badamy put the Pirates up 12-4. A timeout from Edison did little to slow Perkins down. Davie and Walker each tallied aces before a kill from Addi Mason boosted the Pirates' advantage to 17-5. The teams played pretty even the rest of the set before a four-hit error on Edison gave Perkins the early lead. "We can't afford teams to come in our gym and push us around," Duvall said. "We have to be on top of our game all the time if we want to keep the train rolling. It's tough for some of these girls because I'm always going to be critical. I do want to enjoy the small successes, but I know what we have to contend with moving forward." The teams played nearly even the entire second set. There were 15 total ties and eight lead changes in the second set. Perkins took a brief 10-7 lead after two aces from Badamy and a kill from Brooklyn Cassidy, but Edison tied the set at 11 when Reese Wells served an ace. From there, the set was tied seven more times before Perkins put a little distance between the two teams. Tied at 18, Perkins' Mason served an ace, Cassidy clobbered a kill and a two-hit error on the Chargers gave the Pirates a 21-18 edge. Edison scored the next two points, but Perkins got kills from Davie and Walker to help go up 24-20. A kill by the Chargers' Abby Cloud kept the set alive, but a net violation on Edison gave Perkins a 2-0 lead in the match. "I was proud of how we battled in Set 2," Chargers coach Sean Hoover said. "We were right there. Neither team could do any wrong. It seemed to be side out after side out. Nobody seemed to get ahead by more than a couple points. Our girls showed what they were made of by coming out here and trying to learn and get better." Perkins was able to win points in bunches in Set 3 to build on its lead. Edison tied the set at 8, but Perkins answered with a 6-1 run for a 14-9 edge. That came after consecutive aces by Badamy. After Peyton Warner stuffed a block for Edison, Cassidy tallied back-to-back kills for Perkins. After an Edison timeout, Mason served up an ace to make it 17-10. The Chargers made a run at it, getting within 21-19 on a kill from Warner, but Walker clobbered her final two kills and an ace from Mason gave Perkins the sweep. "The last two sets, we really kept our focus and battled," Hoover said. "For a young group still finding their way, I was pretty proud of the way they came out and tried to play each point for one point. We wanted to put a ball on target and try to get a side out and see what happens." Peyton Bissell recorded 13 assists and six digs for Edison while Warner finished with five kills. Paisley Keefer nabbed 13 digs, Macari Harris lined four kills and Wells added three aces. The Chargers are off for a few days before hosting Sandusky on Tuesday. "Our girls battled hard," Hoover said. "We could have laid down after the first set, but we didn't. We stayed aggressive. I thought when we made our serve, we served well to the place we wanted it to. They're a power team. You have to keep them out of their offense. If you're throwing them free balls over to them all day, they're going to rip you apart." Davie ran the offense to the tune of 28 assists, getting all of her hitters involved. "Braelyn has started as a freshman," Duvall said. "She's kind of the ying to my yang, you could say. When I'm getting upset, she goes out and tells them it's alright. When I'm kind of quiet on the sidelines, she gets after them. She's been a great leader for us and a great floor general. We have some components, but she's definitely our quarterback." Walker finished with 17 kills and 17 digs, Cassidy had 12 kills, 11 digs and seven aces and Avisi Gehlot registered 14 digs for Perkins. Badamy had 12 digs, Davie added nine digs and Reese Schaefer tallied five kills. Perkins will also have a few days off before hosting Vermilion on Tuesday. "We'll give them a couple days off this weekend so they can be a teenager for once," Duvall said. "We'll watch some film tomorrow. I don't expect us to be great all the time. This is a game of errors. It's hard to play clean all the time. I just don't think we put our best foot forward today. "Edison did a great job. They served really well and put up a better block than most teams do against us."