Salmen kept games close early against Pearl River, but the Lady Rebels made big runs to knock off the Lady Spartans, 25-14, 24-26, 25-10, 25-17, in a district match held Tuesday at Salmen.

Pearl River’s Caitlyn Harper, who had 11 kills, five aces and two blocks, said the Lady Rebels work on spurts.

“We actually have a drill we do in practice with the junior varsity where we have to get to 10 before they get to five, so we kind of went off that drill after they got the first point,” Harper said.

Pearl River'€™s Katie Wallace (23) goes for a kill as Salmen'€™s Erika Ybarzabal (7) jumps to try and block the shot during Tuesday'€™s match at Salmen. Also shown on defense is Salmen'€™s Monique Pack (20). Pictured for Pearl River are Gabby Jeansonne (11) and Whitney Harris (3). (Staff Photo by Chris Kinkaid)

Pearl River (10-8) was 4-2 in district at Thursday’s press time, while Salmen (2-13) slipped to 0-6.

In the first game, the Lady Rebels held a 5-2 lead, highlighted by a Gabby Jeansonne kill, but Salmen worked its way back. Trailing 8-5, the Lady Spartans scored four points in a row to grab a 9-8 lead.

But the Lady Rebels tied it and then went ahead on back-to-back kills by Harper, which began a run where Pearl River scored 17 of the game’s final 22 points to capture a 25-14 victory.

In the second game, Salmen took advantage of some unforced errors by Pearl River. The Lady Spartans led, 8-4, but PRHS came back with two points to make it 8-6.

The teams exchanged points and the Lady Spartans held a 10-8 advantage. Salmen then went on a 5-2 spurt and upped its lead to 15-10.

The Lady Rebels fought back with three consecutive points. Salmen’s Preslie Long ended the run with a kill and the Lady Spartans had a 16-13 lead.

Later in the game, Pearl River was down 19-16, but went on a 4-0 run for a 20-19 lead. Salmen responded by getting the next four-of-five scores and was up, 23-21.

PRHS came back to tie the game at 23-23, but the Lady Spartans never trailed again and evened the match with a 26-24 victory.

Pearl River coach Britanee Symons talked about the second game.

“They just had a lot of mistakes and Salmen hustled their butts off,” Symons said. “We stepped it up after that.”

The third game was close early as the squads battled to a 4-4 tie, but a 4-0 spurt by Pearl River gave the Lady Rebels an 8-4 lead.

Salmen made it, 9-6, when PRHS scored the next four points. Taylor Peterson recorded two consecutive aces and Whitney Harris’ kill capped the spurt. The run ended when Salmen’s LaShamian Smith got a kill.

Pearl River then posted a 5-0 run, highlighted by a pair of Jeansonne kills, giving the Lady Rebels an 18-7 lead and would never look back in a 25-10 win.

In the final game, Salmen took a 3-1 lead, but Pearl River knotted the game at 3-3 on a kill by Katie Wallace and then went ahead 4-3.

Salmen came back to catch the Lady Rebels at 5-5, but once again, PRHS strung points together, this time four, and held a 9-5 lead.

The Lady Spartans got back in it and knotted the contest at 13-13. The teams traded points and then Pearl River tallied three in a row and led 17-14. Salmen was able to trim the lead to 18-16, but could get no closer as PRHS won 25-17 to capture the match.

Pearl River’s Carly Jordan dished out 19 assists, while Taylor Peterson had 15. Kim Treese recorded 10 digs, while Katie Wallace tallied nine. Harris dug out nine shots and served three aces. Jeansonne posted nine digs to go with two blocks. On Salmen’s side, Aeriel Lara had 16 digs, while Monique Pack had 10 assists and Kristan Campbell added five kills.

Salmen coach Kelly Cahill said her team is getting better especially on the defensive side.

“We definitely have improved passing and defense wise. Our strong point is defense, but we really don’t have an offense right now. We don’t have anybody that can put balls away or get kills for us when we need them and that’s what hurts us,” Cahill said.