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Perry drops match vs. Hamilton in 4 sets
October 8, 2025 by Seth Schwartzberg, Arizona
State University
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.
Perry pounces, beats Basha in 4 sets
September 24, 2025 by Seth Schwartzberg, Arizona State
University
The Perry girls volleyball team is on a
roll and they stayed solid Tuesday against the Basha Bears, winning in
four sets, 25-12. 17-25, 25-14, 25-14.
Basha (10-5, 0-1) came into the match hot, winning eight of their last
nine to face an even hotter Pumas team, who came in in the midst of a 9-1
stretch over their last 10 matches.
“We had a good night,” Perry coach Andrew Yamashiro said. “Our right side,
Caitlin Simmons, had a great night and then we were a force at the net on
the block, so we just have to keep building on that.”
This match was all about which team could get on a run.
After the first set, the Pumas (12-4, 1-0) looked to be in business. After
jumping out to a 6-1 lead, they rode the momentum till the finish, ending
on an 11-4 run to take the first set 25-12.
That momentum was quickly drained entering the second set after the Bears
jumped out to an 18-8 lead thanks to a massive 16-6 run. The Pumas came
back a little bit to make it close, but not enough to close the gap,
dropping the second set 17-25.
“I thought we did better than we have,” Simmons said. “I just feel like
during that second set, we could have done better and just stayed calm.”
The third and fourth set were all Pumas, who ran away with the game
starting around the middle of the third set.
With the Bears up 10-8 in the third set, the Pumas started their
domination, going on a 17-4 run to help them close out the set and take a
2-1 lead.
The fourth set, which despite some back-and-forth between the Puma
players, their coaches and the referees, was, once again, all Pumas from
the get-go.
Kicking off the set with all the momentum on their side, the Pumas jumped
out to an 11-5 lead. The Bears got a few of their own back to close the
gap, but it wasn’t enough to keep up, eventually dropping the set 25-14
and losing 3-1.
“We had a good three sets,” Yamashiro said. “They played clean volleyball
in set two, but we picked it up in sets three and four. We just have this
young person’s mentality sometimes where we take some off (the gas) and we
have to reset ourselves.”
The majority of the highlights for the Pumas fell on two players for the
Pumas; Simmons and freshman Sophia Gregg.
“It gives us a lot of confidence going forward,” Simmons said. “It just
gives us confidence that we can and will win.”
Gregg, who came into the season as a setter, has shined on the outside for
the Pumas this season, racking up a team-high 13 kills and tied for a
team-high in aces with two on Tuesday.
Simmons, playing opposite of Gregg, had 10 kills.
The Pumas were also helped out a lot by errors. In just the third set
alone, the Bears tallied 10 different errors, whether that be on serves or
hits, all resulting in points for the Pumas.
“Small mistakes,” Yamashiro said when asked what his team can improve
upon. “We were trying to hit harder and harder when we weren’t finding the
good success that we were normally finding, so it felt that we had to do
more with every swing.”
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