Yellowjacket volleyball players just couldn't get ahead against Breckenridge on Monday night.
"The team struggled the most tonight with being consistent through the whole match," senior Yellowjacket Katie Johnson said of her team's showing on Monday. "We have to find ways to be more successful and get pints in a row."
The Cowgirls had a clean sweep of the Yellowjackets 3-0 by scores of 25-22, 25-21, 25-21. The last time these two teams faced each other Breckenridge took the win 3-2 in a back and forth five set matchup in Perham at the Hive. After that game, head coach Nikki Bruns said that her team needed to bounce back quicker when they had lows in their gameplay.
The Cowgirls took an early lead and came out swinging against the Yellowjackets. But in the middle of the first set it looked like Perham was picking up the momentum. Lily DeBoer nailed a strong kill in the middle of the first set to give the Yellowjackets a 15-13 lead. Perham used their last timeout of the set when the score reached 22-19 in favor of Breckenridge.
Perham stayed strong bringing back the pace in the end of the first set as they continued to bridge the scoring gap point by point. But, Breckenridge sealed the first set 25-22.
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Breckenridge struck first in the second set taking the first seven points. Perham got on the board with a service error from Breckenridge. The Yellowjackets struggle to find their momentum throughout the second set.
Near the end Perham started to pick it up, getting closer to the Cowgirls and hanging in the game getting to 21-24. But the Cowgirls’ Camryn Kaehler put the ball down on the Yellowjacket side picking up the win in the set by a score of 25-21.
Perham came out early gathering a 6-4 lead but Breckenridge quickly made the lead back. The Yellowjackets stayed scrappy and made up the difference one by one. It looked like Perham would bridge the gap as they managed to make the score 21-24.
"Our natural competitive drive seems to give us the motivation we need to get through the low parts of our game," Johnson said. " We always find a way to come back stronger after a loss like that."
But, as the tension built, the last serve flew out of bounds allowing Breckenridge to win the third set and sweep Perham.
The Yellowjackets will fall to 8-3 for the season after their loss. They will go on to play Frazee-Vergas on Thursday night and host Detroit Lakes on Monday. Looking forward Johnson says she hopes she and her team can focus and work hard to take advantage of every single practice minute they get.
"The next couple of days will not only work on being focused at practice, but using every minute we are there to make ourselves better in every possible way," Johnson said looking forward to the fresh start of Thursday's matchup.
On Monday night Detroit Lakes school administration announced that their volleyball team is being quarantined, but will be able to compete in time for section play. The district is one of many in the region that has made cancellations, had to forfeit post season play or deal with time lost due to quarantines.
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Johnson acknowledged that the team is thankful to get to play whether or not it be a win or a loss as so many teams around the area aren't getting the same season as Perham has been fortunate to have.
"This year has had its ups and downs that I could never have imagined. As a senior, it's sad to not have as many fans, go to fun tournaments or experience what a full season used to be," Johnson said. " At this point though I am grateful that my teammates and I get to have a season at all -- I've come to the realization this year that nothing can be taken for granted at a time like this."
