Seth Schwartzberg is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Perry High School for AZPreps365

CHANDLER --  In Hamilton’s pink-out game, with a sea of pink in the stands, the Perry girls volleyball team couldn’t get it going Tuesday night, losing in four sets, 29-30, 25-20, 18-25, 18-25.

With both schools coming back from break after taking the last week off, there was no telling if that would have an effect.

“We gave our kids a few days off during break,” Hamilton coach Sharon Vanis said. “At the beginning you could see it, a bit not clean and the ball-handling was a little shaky.”

Coming into the match, the Huskies (7-2, 2-0) were ranked third in the state for 6A, the second-highest ranking of any team the Pumas have seen this season, and they showed the Pumas why.

After splitting the first two sets, including a first set that saw one team score 30 points, the Huskies came out in the third set and took a commanding 7-2 lead.

“We battled well in sets one and two,” Perry coach Andrew Yamashiro said. “And sets three and four, we faltered a little bit in reception, started getting impatient on certain stuff.”

The Pumas (6-2, 1-1) made a bit of a run to try and come back, eventually down just three at one point in the third set, but it wasn’t enough to come all the way back and make anything happen, eventually losing the set 18-25 and falling behind two sets to one.

The Pumas were keeping it close for most of the fourth set as well, but a 14-3 run from the Huskies put them out of reach and gave them a 20-10 lead. 

“I think we have very, very great leadership with our six seniors,” Vanis said. “And we have a very balanced attack. I don’t think you can focus on one kid.”

And that attack was on full display.

Perry did make a bit of an effort in the end, going on a little 6-0 run in the back end of the fourth set to bring it back to within six, but it was nowhere near enough to complete the comeback, eventually dropping the set 18-25..

The problem with the Pumas in this match was the free points they were giving to the Huskies. In three of the four sets, the Pumas logged at least 10 errors, including 15 in the first set alone.

“Mindset wise, it’s getting out our frustration swings,” Yamashiro said about giving away free points. “We sometimes get that impatience to try and go take a big swing and pass a perfect ball rather than just a good ball.”

On the plus side, freshman Sophia Gregg had another fantastic night on the court, leading the team with 20 kills.

“It’s mindset training for her,” Yamashiro said. “She’s a stud athlete already. She knows what she is doing. She’s a good volleyball player. It’s been cool to see her evolve when she is not truly an outside hitter.”

Others like Kalista Fuller, Kaitlin James, Ella Gregg and Cailtin Simmons were also big factors for the Pumas, each recording at least four kills with Simmons leading the way with six.

The Pumas have a chance to try and shake off this loss with another game on Wednesday against the Valley Vista Monsoon at 6 p.m. at Valley Vista High School in Surprise.

Hamilton will continue their dominance in exactly one week when they  host the Casteel Colts on Oct. 14t at 6 p.m. 

“I think we need to relax,” Perry’s Braeley Norton said. “When we get scared, we make errors. We need to use what we learned from this. When we push hard, we need to not let up.”