After facing multiple ups and downs over the 2021 regular season, the Permian volleyball team got on the right track and picked up steam at the right time.
The Lady Panthers closed out District 2-6A play on a three-match winning streak, clinching a postseason berth and grabbing a momentum-boosting win over one of the top teams in the district in Wolfforth Frenship along the way.
Permian head coach Gillian Herrera said things were kicked up a notch when her players decided how they wanted the rest of their season to go after two straight losses to Midland Legacy and Midland High in early October.
“The team, the captains and some of the players got the girls together and they just talked for a little bit and decided they wanted to change things,” Herrera said. “They did that, they did exactly that and it shows whatever they set their minds to.”
Now Permian (29-14 overall, 6-6 district) can shift its attention to the Class 6A playoffs, where it’ll face El Paso Franklin in the bi-district round at 6 p.m. Nov. 2 in El Paso.
Over the course of its last three regular season matches, Permian had multiple playmakers step up to take charge.
One of those players was sophomore outside hitter Jade Workman, who would post double digits in multiple statistical categories throughout the campaign.
In the Lady Panthers playoff-clinching sweep of San Angelo Central last week, Workman recorded 16 kills, 17 assists and 13 digs.
She continued that trend in Permian’s five set victory over Wolfforth Frenship Tuesday, posting 13 kills, along with 12 assists and 16 digs.
Despite being one of the younger members of the team, Workman said it’s encouraging to play such an important role for her team.
“It feels good because I know that I have much more room to grow,” Workman said. “I know that they’ll help me get there.”
She added that she looks up to the team’s four seniors for leadership and guidance, something that will have major importance going into postseason play.
The confidence level is high for the Lady Panthers now that they have started putting everything together and that was evident in their final home match against Wolfforth Frenship.
After going down by two sets early, increased communication and cohesiveness helped Permian dig itself out of a hole to hand the Lady Tigers their third district loss of the season.
“I’ve told them that all season, it doesn’t matter who we’re playing, it’s a matter of us and what we do,” Herrera said. “Taking care of the ball, picking up balls on defense, not missing serves and keeping the intensity.
“We have a lot more control of the game than we give it credit for, we just have to create those opportunities for ourselves and I think we’ve done that the last three games.”
Herrera believes her team set out to improve on the lulls it faced over the campaign that saw the Lady Panthers play 43 total matches up to this point.
Workman said the team regrouped and communicated its issues to complete the win comeback win against the Lady Tigers.
“We really needed to cut down on the mistakes and the missed serves,” Workman said. “We talked about all of that in the huddle.”
Now that the Lady Panthers will have to travel to El Paso for the first round of the playoffs, Herrera isn’t worried about the distance the team will need to drive.
Permian has already made two drives of four hours or more this season when it played in nondistrict tournaments in Godley and Granbury.
“We’re used to those road trips, we go play tournaments in Dallas. You travel, you get off a bus and go play,” Herrera said. “We get down there, get warmed up and I think it’ll be a great game.”
El Paso Franklin will come into the bi-district matchup with a 41-3 overall record, winning District 1-6A with a 14-0 record.
The Lady Cougars are also the No. 5-ranked team in the state in Class 6A.
>>Follow Chris Amaya on Twitter at @OA_CAmaya
