By John George
The Jacket volleyball team continued their hot play last week, extending their win-streak to five matches before a loss in the championship game of their own invite.
Perham improved to 5-2 in the Heart O' Lakes last Thursday with a 3-0 (25-23, 25-20, 25-18) win over Barnesville.
"I was proud of how smart and mature the girls played tonight," head coach Dan Christenson said. "They followed the game plan set-up for this match to a tee."
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The game-plan for Perham was to take the Trojans Erica Nord, one of the regions best players, out of the game.
"I told the kids, 'We're not serving near her, we're not hitting to her side when she's blocking. Point blank, she touches the ball as little as possible.'" Christenson said.
Perham's own front-line players did their share. Tiffany Schroeer led the Jackets with 13 kills and three blocks. Kayla Speicher added 13 kills and 17 digs. Haley Frost added seven kills and five blocks.
"Haley did a great job against Erica," Christenson said. "If she didn't touch her attacks, she made her alter some attacks, many of which went out of bounds or into the net."
Barnesville (13-5, 8-2 HOL) had won five straight heading into the match.
Tournament runner-up
Perham continued their hot play into their home tournament last weekend, winning two pool play games and a semifinal revenge match before falling to No. 1-AA D-G-F for the title.
The Jackets started the tournament with a 25-7, 25-7 win over Crookston in pool play. Schroeer had eight kills and three blocks and Brandi Cresap has 12 digs and three aces to lead Perham.
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They followed that up with a 25-15, 25-15 win over Fosston. Speicher led the team with eight kills. Rachel Pfeffer had 26 set assists.
The semifinal match put the Jackets against 8AAA foe, Bemidji. The Lumberjacks had beaten Perham 3-1 in the season opener on Aug. 25, the Yellowjackets came out on top in this one, 2-1 (19-25, 25-17, 15-7).
Perham had 28 kills with Speicer leading the way with 7. Cresap and Schroeer had six a piece.
The Jackets five-match win-streak came to an end in the championship, a 2-0 (25-15, 25-7) loss to the top-ranked Rebels.
Perham hopes to wrap-up second place in the HOL tonight (Oct. 12) when they play at Hawley (3-9, 2-6 HOL), the last conference match of the season.
The Jackets will play in the Alexandria Tournament this weekend before wrapping up the regular season with Detroit Lakes (7-11) at Prairie Wind Gymnasium on Oct. 17.
TUESDAY UPDATE
Jackets get by U-H
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Ulen-Hitterdal gave Perham everything they could handle Tuesday night, but the Jackets were able to come out on top, 3-1.
The Spartans (13-4, 6-2 HOL) held off two Perham game points in the opener and eventually won, 26-24. U-H then got off to a 4-0 lead in game two, and eventually built a 20-15 lead before Perham came back. An ace by Tara Sailer gave the Jackets their first lead as 23-22. Another Sailer ace gave them the 25-22 win.
Perham led the whole way in game three, winning 25-22, before closing out the match with a 25-18 win in game four on an ace by Kayla Speicher.
Tuesday, October 10
Perham 3, Ulen-Hitterdal 1
(24-26, 25-22, 25-22, 25-18)
Jackets--(Kills-Digs-Blocks)--Kayla Speicher 17-23-0; Mallory Malikowski 3-16-2; Becca Peloquin 5-0-1; Haley Frost 2-0-2; Rachel Pfeffer 4-13-1; Brandi Cresap 5-24-0; Tara Sailer 0-20-0; Tiffany Schroeer 13-2-7; Alyssa Stafki 0-8-0.
Assists--Pfeffer 40, Malikowski 1, Schroeer 1, Stafki 1.
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Aces--Sailer 3, Speicher 2, Schroeer 2, Stafki 1.
Jackets: 11-9 (6-2 HOL)
