Dragons spoil Pirates’ senior night in five sets

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Senior night did not go as planned for Perryville. The Pirates breezed through the first two sets, but faltered in the final three as they fell to De Soto 3-2 (25-20, 25-17, 21-25, 21-25, 14-16) on Thursday night at Perryville High School.
To say that Perryville volleyball coach Cindy Cissell and her team was disappointed, may be an understatement.
“We really started out well,” Cissell said. “I know we are young, but we seem to be making elementary mistakes. It’s things that we practice daily. It’s frustrating for them and it’s frustrating for me”
The game came down to a fifth set that never saw either team ahead by more than two points. Perryville fought back from a 12-10 deficit with a block from Shelby Condor and an ace. Tegan Gerler tied the set once more at 13-13 and Elle Martin gave Perryville a 14-13 lead after a kill off a free ball at the net by Elle Martin. However, De Soto won the next three points to win the match.
The Pirates missed three serves in the final set.
“We shot ourselves in the foot different times during the game,” Cissell said.

That put a sour note on a match that started out well for Perryville. Martin had back-to-back kills midway through the first set that highlighted a 7-0 run and an 18-10 lead for Perryville.
De Soto cut the lead to as little as four points during the set, but got kills from Condor and Martin to secure the set. That momentum continued in a close second set as the teams alternated points until Gerler and Makenna Bollinger gave Perryville a 15-12 lead. The Pirates extended that lead to five points and eventually won on an ace for a two set advantage.
That’s where the good times ended as the Pirates fell in the third set. The teams were tied at 20-20 until De Soto won five of the next six points.
In the fourth set, Perryville fell behind 24-13 before they reeled off eight consecutive points before De Soto won the set.
Perryville celebrated five seniors after the match.
“This is a dedicated set of seniors.” Cissell said. “They mean a lot to this program, but I’m just disappointed that we weren’t able to get the win for them.”