PURVIS – Down 2-1, Purvis was nearing last year’s fate of being eliminated in the South State championship.
However, last year’s bitter taste of defeat and facing rival Sumrall in front of a standing-room-only crowd awoke Purvis at the perfect time.
Out the gate in the fourth set, the Lady Tornadoes flipped the switch and put together a 12-2 run that eventually set up Purvis’ five-set win over the Lady Bobcats 26-28, 25-21, 18-25, 25-12, 15-9 and clinched a spot in the Class 4A state championship game.
“We just realized that this was not going to be our last game,” said senior Lillie Crider, who racked up 12 kills and four aces. “We were going to fight for it. We weren’t going to let that go.
“We got put out last year in South State, so we were working extra hard this year. It means so much more to do it in front of this crowd, especially against our rival at home.”
The momentum from the fourth set carried over in the winner-take-all fifth as the Lady Tornadoes dominated, jumping out to a quick five-point lead that set up the victory as well as a joyous pandemonium that led to Purvis fans storming the court.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling,” said senior Shannon Perryman, who had a team-leading 13 kills. “Now we are one step closer to being state champions.
“We knew what we needed to do to win, and we did it. We fixed everything we could. We decided that this is our game and our gym.”
Yet the victory was anything but easy for Purvis (19-8), who had swept Sumrall in their previous two meetings earlier in the season.
“They put up a fight,” Purvis coach Kaityln Aycock said. ‘It was a fight till the last set. I think our seniors did a great job of stepping in and leading and refusing to not let this be their last game. I saw in that fourth set that they were ready to dominate.
“Our goal this postseason was to be a united force and not rely heavily on one person and to be able to stop anybody. I told them you have to have a champion mentality.”
Sumrall jumped out to an 11-3 lead in the first, which featured four aces in the run. Five came from the Lady Bobcats’ senior hitter Hanna James, who finished the night with 11 kills, eight aces and three blocks.
“We were prepared that (James) would have a good serve,” Aycock said. “We knew it. She started out serving so hard against us. They just got down in their heads and thought they couldn’t play the offense that we have. They just lost touch with what we do in this gym, and they had to get back to that.”
Yet Purvis used a late 5-0 run to take a 24-22 lead, but Sumrall responded with a 3-0 run to push the score to 25-24. James helped seal the win for the Lady Bobcats as she delivered the winning kill to give Sumrall the night’s first win.
“We knew we had to come out strong,” said first-year Sumrall head coach Kim Blount. “We had to put forth our best effort. We knew that everybody had to be on. We knew they were going to be tough, but we feel like we did just that. We gave our best effort, and I feel like we made (Purvis) work hard.”
Sumrall maintained the momentum in the second set by taking a 10-7 lead. Purvis responded with an 8-0 run, leading to the Lady Tornadoes pulling away with a 25-21 lead and evening the match.
The third set was tied at 11-11 before Sumrall went on a 5-1 run to break away. Purvis narrowed the score to 20-18, but the Lady Bobcats finished the set on a 5-0 run, which featured James delivering three straight blocks to win the set.
“She’s always on,” Blount said of James’ performance. “We depend on her a whole lot. She absolutely did not let us down tonight.”
One of the major turning points for Purvis was success from its middle blockers Saylor Fletcher and Aubrey Easley, with the duo combining for 23 kills and Easley recording three blocks and two aces.
“We knew that they knew what Lillie and Shannon could do,” Aycock said. “We were aware that they would try and stack their team to leave our middles open.
“Watching the game, it’s easy to say that their ability to hit (was a difference), but really them blocking the ball changed everything.”
For Sumrall, the Lady Bobcats finish the season 17-11 but only graduate four seniors, leaving high expectations for next season.
“We definitely do (feel good about the future),” Blount said. “The seniors just set the bar really high for the underclassmen. We started off the season a little slow, but we have worked. They have improved, especially in the last few playoff games. They really stepped it up.”
As for Purvis, the Lady Tornadoes are now set to play in its first-ever state title game despite being just a six-year-old program.
“I was in eighth grade when I first started,” said Crider when looking back on the program’s growth. “I never thought that (the program) would come this far when I was in middle school. I’m proud of our whole team.
“We couldn’t have done it without (Coach Aycock). Her volleyball knowledge and how much she has cared for us and our team, we couldn’t have done it without her.”
Purvis will face Newton County on Friday at 7 p.m. in Ole Miss’ Gillom Athletics Performance Center.
