By Jeremy McDonald
jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
PERRYDALE, Ore.– Perrydale has played twice in two weeks entering Wednesday’s pair of Casco League, and the rust was evident in their first game against Jewell Wednesday afternoon.
But as the first set drew to a close in their 17-25, 25-21, 25-18, 25-22 victory against the Blue Jays, the Pirates were building some momentum heading into the second set. Scoring six of the set’s final seven points as they slowly carried it over to the second set.
“That first set, we were trying to find ourselves. We haven’t played in a game in a while, but in the second set we started communicating a little bit better and we just worked as a team,” Elana Porter said. “Once we started doing that, we started to get hits.”
Each set was as tough as the last. Perrydale were beginning to find their rhythm during the match, knowing that the two plus the Buckaroos and Willamette Valley Christian are battling it out for the Top Four spots in league with the end goal of trying to make it to the State Tournament next month.
Continuing their momentum from the end of the first set for their wins in the second, third and fourth sets to keep pace with the trio of teams with them.
“These are league games and we’re trying to make it to State or whatever competition we can get this year because of Covid it’s been tough. We’re just trying to pump it up,” Cora Gleason said. “Communication is the most important thing. Being aggressive, we were shimming a little bit at the beginning and were scared to get the ball but we really pumped it up and were able to talk it out and figure it out.”
The win had handed the Pirates their seventh win of the season, but couldn’t duplicate their success into the day’s nightcap with St. Paul as the Bucks took the match 25-18, 25-10, 25-19 that snapped Perrydale’s six-game winning streak. But the Pirates will look to rebound Thursday at Willamette Valley Christian in Brooks, the game starts a four-game road stretch as Perrydale kicked off a grueling stretch Wednesday of seven-games in the next eight days.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
