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PM Avenges EM Setback, Drops Five-Setter To Bath
The Parry McCluer High School volleyball team split a pair of Pioneer District matches at home last week, defeating Eastern Montgomery 3-1 before falling in five sets to Bath County.
The Fighting Blues now sit at 7-10 overall and 1-3 in district play.
On Thursday, PM fought back from a 2-0 deficit only to drop a 3-2 heartbreaker to Bath County (7-3 overall, 4-1 district), as the Chargers recorded a 25-18, 25-23, 25-27, 12-25, 15-13 win.
In the first set, the Blues and Chargers kept the match close. Peira Conner and Keely Mahaffey scored the first points, and Conner tied things up at 8-8 with a block. With PM ahead 12-10, Mahaffey served two aces to extend the lead to 14-10. But with the score at 16-15, Bath went on a 6-point run to lead 20-15, going on to win the set 25-18.
In set two, the Blues jumped out to an early 4-0 lead with Mahaffey serving, but the Chargers rallied to tie the score at 12-12. With Bath ahead 24-19 at the back end of the set, PM scored four unanswered points, but the Chargers ended the set with a win.
“We knew they were going to be tough,” PM head coach Jessie Moala said. “They really came after it in the first two sets, and it took us a bit to find our rhythm because of it.”
PM started hot again in the third set, taking an 8-3 lead, but Bath caught up with a fivepoint run, including a pair of aces. The set was tightly contested all the way to a score of 23-23.
Trailing 24-23, a spike from the Blues’ Emory Slagle saved the match, and PM went on to win the set 27-25.
“I think the girls just started to really fight at that point,” Moala said. “We started to settle in and do what we practice on all the time.”
The Blues won set four in dominant fashion, taking a 12-3 lead and going on to win
