Perkins County volleyball team has 2-2 week
by Diane Stamm
Grant tribune-sentinel
The Perkins County volleyball team kept its nose to the grindstone last week, hitting the road for four games and winning two.
Thursday PCS traveled to Colorado to take on Class 2A seventh ranked Holyoke (8-7).
Cole said the Plainsmen didn’t come out and play with energy in the 23-25, 20-25, 13-25 loss.
“We competed during the first two sets even though we didn’t have a whole lot of energy. Those nights are tough because that is a mind set thing,” Cole said.
The Dragons had a big serving run early in the match that left PCS in a 5-14 hole. The Plainsmen pulled to within one point, 21-22, before losing the set. Perkins County led set two 13-11 until another serving run left it trailing 13-17. The theme remained the same in the final set, one run by Holyoke put the match out of reach.
Saturday was the Potter-Dix Round Robin.
Perkins County started off with Morrill (6-8).
“The girls seemed to be a bit more pepped up on Saturday and were ready to take the court against Morrill,”
PCS dropped the first set 15-25, but bounced back to win the match with 25-17 and 25-21 wins.
Set one was tied at 10 until Morrill had one huge serving run to put the set out of reach. Perkins County trailed 9-13 in set two, but, after tying the set, steadily pulled ahead. The final set was a back-and-forth battle. After trailing 20-21, Kailee Potts served a five-point run that gave PCS the win.
“It was good to see them get to that finish line after losing the first set. We were battling some rotation issues due to some different things that had happened, but once we settled in, we were able to play well, rise above a first set loss and compete to the end,” Cole said.
As has been a theme in the season, the Plainsmen needed extra points in their opening set to beat Crawford (0-15).
by Diane Stamm
Grant tribune-sentinel
The Perkins County volleyball team kept its nose to the grindstone last week, hitting the road for four games and winning two.
Thursday PCS traveled to Colorado to take on Class 2A seventh ranked Holyoke (8-7).
Cole said the Plainsmen didn’t come out and play with energy in the 23-25, 20-25, 13-25 loss.
“We competed during the first two sets even though we didn’t have a whole lot of energy. Those nights are tough because that is a mind set thing,” Cole said.
The Dragons had a big serving run early in the match that left PCS in a 5-14 hole. The Plainsmen pulled to within one point, 21-22, before losing the set. Perkins County led set two 13-11 until another serving run left it trailing 13-17. The theme remained the same in the final set, one run by Holyoke put the match out of reach.
Saturday was the Potter-Dix Round Robin.
Perkins County started off with Morrill (6-8).
“The girls seemed to be a bit more pepped up on Saturday and were ready to take the court against Morrill,”
PCS dropped the first set 15-25, but bounced back to win the match with 25-17 and 25-21 wins.
Set one was tied at 10 until Morrill had one huge serving run to put the set out of reach. Perkins County trailed 9-13 in set two, but, after tying the set, steadily pulled ahead. The final set was a back-and-forth battle. After trailing 20-21, Kailee Potts served a five-point run that gave PCS the win.
“It was good to see them get to that finish line after losing the first set. We were battling some rotation issues due to some different things that had happened, but once we settled in, we were able to play well, rise above a first set loss and compete to the end,” Cole said.
As has been a theme in the season, the Plainsmen needed extra points in their opening set to beat Crawford (0-15).
PCS won the match 28-26, 25-17.
The Plainsmen clawed their way out of a 17-20 hole in the first set. PCS had two set points but found itself in a 26-26 tie. A Gracie Loy ace ended the set.
Perkins County led 9-5 in the second set before Mallory McClenahan broke the set open with a seven-point run at the service line.
“We had to work for the first set win. They did, they were determined to get it and that was fun to see. Once we were able to get the first set under our belt, we were able to take control of the second set right away,” Cole said, pointing out that everyone suited up were able to play in the second set.
“The JV girls came off of the bench and finished the set for us, and we were pleased with that,” Cole said.
PCS took on 16-1 Potter-Dix in its final match.
Cole said she knew the Coyotes would be scrappy, tough opponent.
PCS lost the first set 15-25. Perkins County’s early 5-3 lead turned into a 9-5 deficit. Another four-point run by Potter-Dix left PCS trailing 8-14.
Cole said the Plainsmen got into a serve receive drought in the set, but between sets her team settled down, and came out and played more in system.
Perkins County didn’t let the Coyotes get out of reach in the second set. PCS overcame a 15-18 deficit to win the second set 25-22.
A slow start doomed PCS in the third set. Perkins Countyhad a four-point run to make the score 17-22 and held off one match point before falling 18-25.
“Over all, we had a really good day and I saw some really good things from our players. When we had the injury in the first game, I was beyond proud of the way that our bench players stepped up and rose to the occasion and opportunity of play in that position. That’s what makes this team. Flexible, confident, competitive driven players,” Cole said.
Up next
The Plainsmen, now 7-10, have another tough week ahead of them.
Tuesday the team traveled to Gothenburg to take on the 18-2 Swedes, ranked fifth in Class C1, and 7-8 Chase County.
Thursday is another tough matchup when 10-0 Sedgwick County, Colorado, the 2022 Class 2A state champions and 2021 state runners up, comes to Grant.
“The week is going to be a battle but my confidence is in the girls to compete to the best of their abilities and shine brightly in ways that I know that they can. We are excited for another home match this Thursday and hope that we have a good crowd behind us,” Cole said.
PCS HSH
20 Kills 36
2 Total Blocks 3
2 Serving Aces 7
46 Digs 89
20 Assists 34
Attack Set Serve Def Blk
PLAYER SP K PCT ASST ACES PCT DIG Tot
C. Johnson 3 0 0.000 0 0 0.0 17 0
L. Cole 3 8 0.115 7 1 81.8 5 1
G. Loy 3 1 0.000 1 0 77.8 3 0
K. Potts 3 3 -0.167 12 0 100.0 9 0
C. Goodell 3 2 0.000 0 0 80.0 6 0
H. Bishop 3 1 -0.200 0 1 93.3 4 1
M. McClenahan 3 5 0.167 0 0 100.0 2 0
Team Totals 3 20 -0.022 20 2 89.7 46 2