Perkins gets big Lake win at Norwalk

NORWALK — Perkins got a little more fired up. The Pirates were on the wrong end of an obvious call that should've given them a one-point lead late in the fourth set. Perkins shrugged it off, regrouped and picked up a big 25-20, 19-25, 25-21, 25-23 Northern Ohio Conference Lake Division win Tuesday over Norwalk. "Last year I didn't know how to get them to respond," Pirates coach Brandon Duvall said. "I got a lot of yellow cards last year. I did it, most of the time, to light a fire under them. It usually never happened and they fell flat. "The response is better than getting that call." A ball hit by Perkins' Olivia Badamy was called outside of the stick even though it went inside and would've been a kill. Instead, it gave Norwalk a 20-19 lead. Three straight errors, though, gave the Pirates (9-1, 2-0 NOC Lake) a 22-20 lead. They also led 23-21 and 24-22 after a block by Braelyn Davie. A four-hit error on Perkins forced a timeout from Duvall. But, a serving error by Norwalk (6-4, 1-1) gave the Pirates the win. "The facts are Norwalk passes well, they're in system a lot and they serve aggressively," Duvall said. "They have some studs at the front of the court. They put a lot of velocity on the ball. We were disciplined and I thought we blocked well." The teams split the first two sets before Perkins took control of the match. The Truckers led 3-2 in Set 3, but Perkins won the next four points. Norwalk never led in the set again. It's not like the Pirates ran away with any of the sets, but the Truckers were just off the pace. Norwalk got within 11-10 on an Ainslee King kill, but Brooklyn Cassidy smacked a kill then leveled a block for the Pirates. Perkins went up 19-14 after two kills and a block from Viera Walker, but Norwalk got as close as three points on a couple occasions. The last time came at 24-21, but a hitting error on Norwalk ended the set in favor of Perkins. "I think we are too slow to start, too complacent and struggled to string points together," Norwalk coach Sarah Kipp said. "Perkins took advantage of our struggle in serve receive and served aggressively. They took advantage of blocking hands or the fact that we struggled to pick up the tip over the block on the outside." Set 4 was just as tight as the first three. Perkins went up 13-9 after a kill from Cassidy, but Norwalk fought back and got within 16-15 following a kill from Maddie Gamble. Perkins led 19-16 at one point, but Norwalk won the next four points for a 20-19 edge. "We had to block," Kipp said. "But when we took care of that, another piece would fall off. One of the things we are preaching at right now is the consistency piece. We need to have all six kids on the floor firing on all cylinders. "We're still looking for that." Norwalk went up 11-8 in the first set but the Pirates chipped away and went up 17-14 after a Walker kill. Norwalk never got back even and a net violation, coupled with a hitting error on the Truckers gave Perkins the first set. Norwalk played its best ball of the night in the second set. Ahead just 12-9 later, Norwalk used a 5-1 sprint go up 17-10. Things didn't come easily as Perkins cut as close as 21-18 at one point. But, Gamble lined a kill, Sawyer Wineman tallied an ace and consecutive kills from King evened the match at a set apiece. "There's no way we could walk into this gym and think it was going to be easy," Duvall said. "We got the first set, but we had to win three sets. You can have a great set, but some good teams get swept on the back side because you take your foot off the pedal. I thought Norwalk stepped up in the second set." King finished with 13 kills while Gamble added 14 digs and nine kills. Emily Tyler registered 30 assists while Wineman had 18 digs. Norwalk is back in action Thursday at Sandusky (1-10, 0-2). "I don't have another answer but consistency," Kipp said. "We talk about it in practice all the time. We talk about how we come out and practice. We are looking for that to translate in the game. When you're inconsistent in your practice environment, you're inconsistent in games." Davie finished with 47 assists while Cassidy had 19 kills and 13 digs. Walker added 18 kills and 15 digs while Avisi Gehlot nabbed 21 digs. After transferring from St. Paul, Cassidy's last match will come Wednesday when the Pirates travel to Willard (6-4). "We have some people that really need to step up," Duvall said. "I don't know if we're going to get anybody to replace Brooklyn, but everyone else needs to replace her stats. "You can't replace the leadership, voice and presence of Brooklyn. We have some work to do before that happens."