The Permian volleyball team continued its undefeated start to the season by beating Lubbock High and Pecos Tuesday at Permian Fieldhouse.
Coming off last weekend’s Monahans Tournament championship, the Lady Panthers improved to 9-0 after getting sweeping victories in both contests.
Permian defeated Lubbock High by scores of 25-19, 25-15, 25-15 and Pecos by scores of 25-16, 25-5, 25-20.
“We’re playing some younger girls right now and they really stepped up,” Permian head coach Gillian Herrera said. “We were able to finish some close matches and played well in some pressure situations. I’m proud of our players’ growth over these last nine games.”
Both Permian and Lubbock High kept it close in early in the first set.
However, Permian would go on a 7-2 run to build a 17-10 advantage and take control of the set.
Leading 23-15, the Lady Westerners scored two unanswered points to help stay alive.
Lubbock High wouldn’t drop the first set too easily and it wasn’t long before the Lady Westerners were only down 24-19.
But an error on the Lady Westerners’ part gave the Lady Panthers the first set at 25-19.
The Lady Panthers began the second set on a 7-4 run.
However, the Lady Westerners went on a 3-0 run to tie things up.
Permian responded with points on the next two plays.
A serve error on the Lady Westerners gave the Lady Panthers a 16-11 lead.
Permian continued to remain in front and used a 4-2 run to build a 20-13 lead.
The Lady Panthers went on a 5-2 run to close out the second set with a 2-0 advantage.
An error gave Permian an early 5-2 lead to start the third set.
However, Lubbock High used a 6-0 run to cut Permian’s lead to 11-10.
The Lady Panthers answered in the form of a 5-1 run to rebuild its advantage.
Permian managed to stay in front and closed out the set and the game with a 25-15 win to take the sweep.
“We really focused on us and serving tough and being aggressive and eliminated our unforced errors and I felt like we did that,” Herrera said. “It was a great game for the girls.”
Lubbock High fell to 6-6.
The Lady Westerners managed to defeat Pecos in three sets earlier in the day.
“We’re still learning and still trying to figure each other out,” Lubbock High head coach Matthew Leesman said. “We’re a young team. We lack a little bit of experience, but we’re making up for that with our fight. I threw some adversity at our girls because we’re about to open up district in a week. For us, it’s not about chasing wins. It’s about figuring it out before we open district play.”
Permian didn’t take long to get going against Pecos, building a 17-7 lead against the Lady Eagles in the first set.
The Lady Panthers continued to stay in front and closed out the set with a 25-16 win.
Permian began the second set on a 6-0 run.
The Lady Panthers’ dominance would continue in the second set as the team built a 16-2 lead.
Things wouldn’t get any easier for the Lady Eagles as Permian soon had a 22-2 advantage.
The hosts closed out the set with an easy 25-5 victory.
“Mylah Arzaga got on a roll serving and then Abby York got back and started serving and we were able to go on a run,” Herrera said.
The third set was a whole different story.
Both teams found themselves tied at 12 and Pecos took the lead on the following play.
The two sides continued to play a close one and were tied at 15.
Permian took the lead after going on a quick 2-0 run.
A kill by the Lady Panthers soon made it 20-15 and a timeout was called.
Permian would continue its late run to stay in front and built a six-point lead.
“I felt like we made a few too many errors but I’m proud that we finished it up,” Herrera said.
Pecos fell to 2-8.
“Overall from today, I’ll say that we started off pretty slow against Lubbock High,” Pecos head coach Krystle Ramirez said. “Our bus was late getting here and it was just the little things that got us. But we warmed up and got better. We have a young team. But I’ll say we played lights out against Permian. Not so much in the second set, but we came out strong in the third set and our girls have a lot of fight in them.”
Permian will next take part in the Granbury Tournament from Aug. 22-24.
