Lady Plainsmen go 1-2 in last week’s games

In games against Brady, South Platte and North Platte St. Pat’s last week, the Perkins County volleyball team put a win and two losses on their record.

Perkins County Triangular

Tuesday, August 31 the Lady Plainsmen hosted a triangular with the Brady Eagles and South Platte Blue Knights.

The evening kicked off with a game between Perkins County and Brady.

The Lady Plainsmen got an early lead in the game and they held on to that lead until they won their first set of the evening, 25-7.

Perkins County again got ahead of their opponents early in the second set, and with good teamwork and a positive energy coming from the team, they won their second set against Brady 25-11, and the game 2-0.

Brady and South Platte faced off next, and South Platte also defeated Brady 2-0.

The final game of the evening was Perkins County versus South Platte, and by now the student body had been released from extracurriculars and were cheering on the Lady Plainsmen.

Perkins County pushed ahead in the first set against the Blue Knights, and took the set 25-17.

In the second and third sets, however, South Platte came back and beat the Lady Plainsmen 25-16 and 25-13, leaving Perkins County’s record for the evening 1-1.

Coach Monica Cole said the game against South Platte is where the team’s hitting went awry, and the girls did not play at their best in the last two sets.

“We couldn’t keep it in play,” she added.

The atmosphere of the games has been something Cole has enjoyed so far, from the team members on the court to the girls on the bench.

“To see the excitement, celebration and commending one another on the court has been a great thing,” Cole noted. “Our bench is even into it, and that makes a world of difference for the ones that are playing.”

Cole added they get the opportunity to play South Platte again next week, so the team is excited for a rematch with them.

North Platte St. Pat’s

The Lady Plainsmen headed to North Platte Thursday, Sept. 2 for a game against North Platte St. Pat’s.

The teams played three sets against one another, and North Platte defeated the Lady Plainsmen in all three games, 25-8, 25-17 and 25-12.

“They run a quick tempo game, but our unforced errors on the hitting end of things did not help us one bit,” Cole said.

She was positive, however, about the difficulty of the week’s games and what that could bring to the team.

“Competition is always good,” she said. “It’s good to see where we’re at and what we need to crack down on to be successful. Our girls play a great defensive game from the back row!”

Serving, Cole noted, was the team’s best stat for the week’s games.

“The girls are picking apart serve receives very well and getting other teams out of system,” she said. “Our hitting struggled last week. We could not find the inside boundaries of the court like usual, so we are working on fixing that and getting them to hit high and snap.”

Cole also feels the girls’ ability to hustle is particularly good, noting there’s nothing better than two or three girls on the floor for a ball to keep it in play, and then winning a rally after that.

“We had a couple of those plays last week. Pure joy to watch the small things become big things,” she said.

Over the course of the three games last week, Cole said they had 16 serving aces, 62 kills, three ace blocks, 97 digs and 56 set assists.

Tuesday, Sept. 7, the Lady Plainsmen hosted another home triangular, this time with Wallace and Hitchcock County. See next week’s issue of the Tribune for the results of the triangular.

Arthur up next

The varsity girls got a break from their two-a-week schedule and had no games during the week of Sept. 6 after their home triangular.

Junior varsity, however, has the opportunity to play in a new JV tournament this year, and will be attending Garden County’s Reserve Tournament Saturday, Sept. 11 starting at 10 a.m.

The next Lady Plainsmen volleyball game will be Monday, Sept. 13 at Arthur, with both jayvee and varsity teams suiting up for games. Junior varsity will begin at 4:30 p.m. with varsity following.

“We are excited to have more home games this week,” Cole said.

 “We love our gym atmosphere, especially when the student body is present. We are grateful for the extra noise and support.”