VB: Perry secures "odd' win over Corona del Sol

October 15, 2015 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365



Perry had plenty of offense on Thursday night and needed all of it to turn back Corona del Sol in a matchup of top-eight girls volleyball teams in Division I.

Perry's Taylor Knoll put away match point in one of the best, lengthy rallies one will see with a match on the line as Perry completed a 3-2 victory over visiting Corona del Sol. Scores were 25-14, 23-25, 25-22, 23-25, 15-12.

Knoll whacked a cross-court shot that glanced off a defender to end what had to be a minute or more rally. Knoll finished as one of four Perry players with 10 kills or more -- a night the Pumas needed to pick up the slack for injured all-around outside hitter Amanda Aguirre. Aguirre missed her second match this week -- the only two Perry has played since September ended.

Perry got 17 kills and 20 digs from its senior captain Knoll, 17 kills from middle Ryann Davis, 14 from Kennedy Kaminsky and 11 from Hannah Stevenson. Lexy Nielsen chimed in with 19 digs for the Pumas.

Corona del Sol, after a slow start in the first set, battled gamely before falling. Corona's only lead of two points in the first two sets came at set point of the second set. The Aztecs were led by Brooke Nuneviller (17 kills and 18 digs), Jaedon Hooker (11 kills) and Emma West (10 kills). Camryn Tucker added 21 digs and Mdi Reum and Abby Meyer shared the assist column with 25 and 22, respectively.

Perry and Corona del Sol are battling to stay among the top eight teams in the D-I power-rankings and earn a first-round home match in the playoffs that begin in less than three weeks. Corona (17-9, 9-3 power-ranking matches) was No. 6 prior to Thursday's match while Perry (25-4, 10-2) was No. 7. Both are chasing the top five -- Gilbert, Xavier, Desert Vista, Hamilton and Sunnyslope. Those are teams Perry and Corona have not beaten this season.

Perry coach Fred Mann was relieved to leave his gym with the W as his team adusts to not having one of its best players in Aguirre. Mann felt the Pumas could have made it easier on themselves. Playing without a key player is something Corona has battled for almost a month as junior middle Lauren Forte hasn't played since a tournament match at Westwood on Sept. 19.

"We played real wll the first set and then made a number of uncharacteristic defensive errors in the second set," Mann said. "I think we counted six errors that set. I was proud of our girls effort. They fought back the last set."

Corona led at the halfway mark of the decisive set, 9-6, after one of Hayden Warnock's seven blocks forced Perry to talk things over. Perry responded after its timeout with three successive points to tie. Corona took the lead back one final time at 10-9 before Kaminsky an Knoll (two kilss each) and Stevenson (one kill) combined for five of the Pumas final six points.

"We got back in it playing great defense, we just couldn't put a ball down at the end," Corona coach Ben Maxfield said. "But they were playing great defense, too. That last point was something."

Corona and Perry each have five power-ranking matches left. Corona faces Desert Vista, Queen Creek, Hamllton, Campo Verde and Mountain Pointe whil Perry has matches with Hamilton, Liberty, Mountain Pointe, Chandler and Basha.