The Permian volleyball team closed out its nondistrict portion of the schedule with a 3-1 win over Wall Tuesday at Permian Fieldhouse.
The Lady Panthers moved to 20-7 for the season after winning by scores of 25-20, 24-26, 25-19, 25-19 and will begin District 2-6A play against Midland High at 5 p.m. Friday at home.
“I’m so glad we have Wall on the schedule,” Permian head coach Gillian Herrera said. “Win or lose, they’re a good team to play before district. We’re going to find out what we’re good at and what we need to work on. They’re a great team that played a great team tonight.”
Wall may be a 3A school, but at times looked like a 6A team as the Lady Hawks kept things close throughout the game.
“It was a great, well-fought match,” Wall head coach Taylor Howie said. “I thought our girls did a great job of adjusting to Permian’s offense. It was a fast-paced offense. It’s something that we’ve been working on adjusting to in practice. I thought our girls played hard and were smart about where they placed the ball. That’s all you can ask for.”
Permian’s Jade Workman once again led the team in kills, finishing with 20 while Mylah Arzaga had 13 and Bridgit Smithee had nine.
Permian stayed in front for the majority of the first set, but Wall wouldn’t go away.
The Lady Panthers built a 21-19 lead late in the set.
However, an error on the hosts made it 21-20 on the next play.
The Lady Panthers would go on a 4-0 run to finish the set.
The Lady Hawks began the second set on a 6-4 run.
Permian answered back on 2-0 run.
Just like with the first set, the Lady Hawks continued to stay with the Lady Panthers throughout the second set.
A kill by Wall’s Natalie Nelson put her team ahead 17-16.
An error on the Lady Panthers the next play gave the visitors a 2-point lead and Permian called a timeout.
Wall continued to remain in front and built a 21-16 advantage.
Down 23-17, the Lady Panthers battled back, going on a quick 2-0 run to try and stay alive in the set.
Permian continued to fight and soon made it a 24-23 deficit in the second set before Wall called a timeout.
With both teams tied at 24, Wall took the next two points to tie everything up at 1-1.
“That’s extremely huge for us to play that tight of a set,” Howie said. “Anytime you can play in a close scenario, it’s important for the girls. I have a lot of girls who are playing their first varsity experience this year and they need to adjust to close games like this. It was fun to see them compete.”
A frustrated Permian team began the third set on a 5-0 run.
“We wanted to start off strong after that second set,” Herrera said. “We’ve been taking a lot of matches, 3-0 and I talked to the girls and said that we’ve also had some 0-3 matches. While at the time we were frustrated, it was something that we needed. We needed a little bit of adversity tonight to see if we could respond and we did in that third set.”
The Lady Hawks jumped right back in and soon found themselves down 10-8.
Permian soon took a 14-8 lead.
The Lady Panthers remained in control and soon made it 23-18.
Permian would go on to take the set, 25-19.
Permian began the fourth set on a 6-2 run.
A kill by Workman gave the Lady Panthers a 14-12 lead.
However, Wall used a 3-0 run to take the lead.
Permian wasn’t down for long and went on a 5-0 run.
The Lady Panthers were able to close out and take the set and the match.
“It was a great game,” Herrera said. “It exposed some of our weaknesses. We need to go back to the drawing boards on a few things and look at other things and be ready for district play.”
Wall will also be starting District 6-3A play this weekend when the Lady Hawks face Clyde on Saturday.
“We have our biggest district opponent on Saturday so this was the perfect pre-game for district,” Howie said. “It helped us look at what we needed to work on. It also showed what we’re capable of.”
