By John George
Perham received quite a scare in Hawley last Thursday. The Nuggets, inspired by their Parent's Night, jumped out to a 2-0 lead on Perham before the Jackets rallied for a 3-2 win (14-25, 19-25, 25-15, 25-23, 15-9).
Yellowjacket senior Haley Frost had a career high 18 kills, but more importantly, she led the team emotionally.
"We started with a total lack of enthusiasm," head coach Dan Christenson said. "Haley got everyone fired up with her inspirational play in the final three games."
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Christenson said he's been waiting all year for someone to take charge of this team and become a leader.
"We may have found that person tonight," he said of Frost.
Perham turned the game around with a 25-15 win in game three. They fought off a hard-charging home team in game four to win, 25-23, before closing out the match with the game five win.
"We made the right adjustments in game three," Christenson said. "We got the match-ups we wanted and woke-up the defense in the meantime."
Perham did the job at the service line with 11 aces, led by Kayla Speicher with three. Speicher also had nine kills and 12 digs. Tiffany Schroeer added 13 kills and five blocks.
Runestone Tournament
Perham went 0-2-2 in the Runestone Tournament in Alexandria last weekend, finishing in 6th place.
In pool play, Perham tied Alex (24-26, 26-24) and tied Tracy-Milroy-Balaton (25-19, 21-25), then lost to Wadena-Deer Creek, 2-0 (25-19, 25-15).
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The Jackets then lost to Section 8AAA rival, Moorhead, 2-0, in the fifth place match (25-21, 25-14.
Section seeding will take place next week with the first round of 8AAA playoffs starting on October 27.
Tuesday Update
Jackets edge Lakers
Games don't get any closer than the Perham vs. Detroit Lakes volleyball match Tuesday night. Both teams battled back-and-forth until the Jackets finally prevailed over their Section 8AAA rivals, 3-2 (25-23, 24-26, 23-25, 25-21, 15-13).
After winning game one, Perham had a 10-2 lead in game two before the Lakers rallied for a win. D.L. almost blew a 21-13 lead in game three before winning, only to see Perham take the final two games.
Haley Frost led Perham with 13 kills and 10 blocks.
The Jackets played without leading hitter, Tiffany Schroeer, who has an injured ankle.
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Tuesday, October 17
Perham 3, Detroit Lakes 2
(25-23, 24-26, 23-25, 25-21, 15-13)
Jackets--(Kills-Digs-Blocks)--Kayla Speicher 15-17-0; Julie Wierbos 1-0-0; Mallory Malikowski 6-27-2; Becca Peloquin 8-2-3; Haley Frost 13-7-10; Rachel Pfeffer 1-15-0; Brandi Cresap 6-16-4; Tara Sailer 0-34-0; Alyssa Stafki 0-4-0
Assists--Pfeffer 42; Malikowski 2.
Aces--Pfeffer 3, Speicher 2, Malikowski 2, Frost 1, Cresap 1, Sailer 1.
