Perkins serve leads to sweep at Columbian

TIFFIN — Braelyn Davie set the tone early. The junior setter from Perkins lined a pair of aces to open Thursday's Northern Ohio Conference Lake Division contest on the road at Tiffin Columbian. Her teammates took her an example and carried on in the first set with seven total aces. The Pirates cruised from there, defeating Columbian 25-15, 25-16, 25-16. Perkins finished with 11 aces on the night. "That start was awesome," Davie said. "That helped us get on a run and get the momentum. We were able to carry that on in the other sets." Perkins improved to 12-1 overall and 4-0 in league play. The Pirates have only won two league titles in school history with the last coming in 2020. Perkins is halfway to that goal with four league matches to go. "That's our first goal," Davie said. "We want to win the NOC and then after that, make it as far as we possibly can." An ace from Viera Walker helped Perkins to a quick 5-1 lead. Columbian (6-9, 2-2) got within 11-10 on a kill from Layne Woodruff, but the Pirates scored the next five points. Later, a block and kill by Olivia Badamy and kill from Reese Schaefer gave Perkins a 20-14 lead. A service error gave the Tornadoes a point, but the Pirates slammed the door shut. "I think we had the same philosophy as them and that's serve aggressive and get them out of system," Perkins coach Brandon Duvall said. "Hopefully that gets you an easy ball back. We're going to stick with it, even if we're making errors. We can't change our philosophy unless it's completely falling apart." Schaefer put down two kills and Addi Mason served up a pair of aces as Perkins went up 1-0. The Pirates had to grind a little more in the second set. It was 7-7 when consecutive kills from Walker helped Perkins to an 11-7 advantage. The Pirates pushed the lead to 17-10 after a pair of Columbian errors. The lead reached 20-12 after an ace. A hitting error by the Tornadoes gave Perkins a stranglehold on the match. "We have to make sure we came out well," Duvall said. "It's tough beating a team multiple times. They're obviously missing (Kaela Jenkins) who is playing college volleyball. They still have (Lexi Beaston) and she's amazing. Their setter (Avary Brown) is amazing. They have components where they can be dangerous." The Pirates had to rally a bit in the third set. Columbian went up 7-3 early after a block by Nella Hainrich and error on Perkins. The Pirates used a timeout and regrouped. Perkins strung together a 7-1 run to go up 12-9. A kill from Walker extended it to 13-10. The Pirates played perhaps their best stretch of volleyball to close out the win. Up just 18-15, Perkins used a 7-1 sprint to put away the win. An ace from Schaefer gave the Pirates their 12th win in a row. "Thank God this week it's been in the 60s," said Duvall of the recent weather. "The weather has been cooperating. Once again, I feel similarities to our gym. It's kind of dark in here and it's a tough place to play. Their fans are usually pretty good. "I was pretty happy in the third set. I don't know if they had something to do or us winning the first two sets put them in a bad mood. Their fans were tough last year." Walker finished with 13 kills, eight digs and four aces while Schaefer added six kills. Davie tallied 27 assists and nine digs, Avisi Gehlot had 14 digs and Mason contributed 12 digs. Perkins is back in action Saturday at home against Galion (3-11). "I think there's things we can always do better," Duvall said. "I'm learning to shut my mouth a little bit more because I could nitpick at every play. That's unfair to them. I think they work very hard and it's a game of errors. "We have to be OK with them making errors as long as they're not back-to-back and as long as we can get a quick side out."