When Hamilton and Perry met in the Westwood tournament earlier this season, the Huskies got the better of their 6A Premier Section foe, 2-1. On Thursday, the No. 3 Huskies picked right up where they left off, jumping out to a 20-13 lead over No. 4 Perry in the first set. But the tides quickly shifted as the Pumas came storming back to win the set and ended their night as the first team in 2018 to sweep Hamilton.

“I don’t know how we won that first game,” Perry head coach Fred Mann said. “We were in deep, deep trouble and somehow we managed to pull it out.”

After numerous service errors, and excellent play by Hamilton in the first set, Perry had a seven-point hole to climb out of. But after a timeout, the Pumas put down the shovels and began to claw their way out. Following a 9-2 run, they had pulled even at 22, but Hamilton quickly scored twice to put the set at game point. Once again, Perry battled back scoring four unanswered points, taking the set, and all of the momentum.

“I think as a team it was hard to shake that off,” junior setter Reilly Babcock said. “We tried pushing through it and it just wasn’t enough.”

Perry, still buzzing with energy after the comeback, continued to roll, starting the second set with a 10-3 lead.

“We lost all the momentum we had when we lost that first game,” Hamilton head coach Sharon Vanis said. “We had them where we wanted them, and we let it slip away. That’s totally on us.”

The Huskies started to battle back but the damage had already been done as Perry went on to take the second set 25-14. Despite their best efforts, Hamilton dropped the third set as well, 25-20, surrendering their first sweep of the season in the process.

Vanis had stated in a previous interview that thanks in part to the hot start, the target on the Huskies' back was a little bit bigger heading into the second half of the season. Coach Mann knew this heading in.

“Anytime you can beat Hamilton, you know you’ve had a great night,” Mann said.

Perry advances to 17-3 on the year and will go on the road next week to play at Valley Vista on Tuesday.

Despite the tough loss, Vanis wasn’t fazed by the outcome.

“If we were as good as we could be right now, what would we do at the end of the year?'' Vanis said. “We did some good things, so hopefully we’ll keep improving and by the end of the season we’ll be peaking and playing well.”

Hamilton will take its 21-4 record home for matches next week against Basha on Tuesday and Chandler on Thursday, two teams they have already defeated this season.