Hawley vs. Perham

Recap

Perham 3 Hawley 2 (21-25, 26-24, 25-18, 21-25, 15-13)

The fourth time was the charm for Perham’s volleyball team.  The Yellow Jackets had faced Hawley three times this season and lost all three.  But with a place in the Section 8AA championship game on the line, Perham battled to defeat Hawley in five sets to win Thursday night’s 8AA semifinal at Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton.

Both teams had solid blocking.  Hawley had 13 blocks unofficially, with junior Izzy Steer having six solo blocks and two block assists.  Perham had six blocks; 3.5 of them from Addi Hackel.

The entire contest had fans on the edge of their seats.  In set two, Hawley was up 24-23 and needed one more point for a win.  But they couldn’t get it as the Yellow Jackets’ Willow Thiel, Jaden Hackel and Kennedy Pilgrim had kills to give Perham a 26-24 win to tie the match at a set apiece.

Perham stormed to a 20-9 advantage in set three.  Hawley closed to 23-18, but the Yellow Jackets took the set 25-18.  Set four was tied at 18 before the Nuggets squeezed out a 25-21 win to force a deciding fifth set.

That fifth set was back and forth.  Hawley led 6-3; then Perham scored five in a row to go up 8-6. It was tied at 13 with the Nuggets serving.  But a service error plus a kill by Thiel gave Perham the match 15-13.

Thiel had 20 kills to lead the Yellow Jackets, with Jaden Hackel adding 12 kills, a block and three aces. Perham (21-10) takes on Wadena-Deer Creek for the Section 8AA championship Saturday night in Pelican Rapids.

Katy Vetter and Annaka Johnson both had 12 kills to lead Hawley. Johnson added 2.5 blocks. The Nuggets finish the season 23-6.