Pekin’s season stays alive with Regional second round victory over Sigourney Monday

SIGOURNEY- The Panthers kept their season alive with a big win on the road at Sigourney on Monday, Oct. 24. Both teams started the night competing very well. Pekin pulled away towards the end of the first set, and then jumped out to a big lead in the second set. “We let up the intensity in the second a little but still finished with a 25-12 win. Sigourney came out in the third set with passion and purpose, waxing us 8-25.” Said Pekin head coach ken Hutchinson about the first couple sets against Sigourney on Monday night.

            At that point Pekin stepped up and began the fourth set with a 9-0 run. Hutchinson on the fourth and final set; "We weren't going to allow our levels to drop the rest of the night like we did in the third set. We gave them their first six points in the third off of silly errors, but once we refocused in the fourth set with more accurate passing and solid hitting/serving, we had our confidence back." 

            Sigourney pulled close down the stretch thanks to some solid hitting on their part and timid hitting on Pekin's part. Coach Hutchinson continued about the end of the game; "I thought we stopped swinging aggressively down the stretch of the fourth set. We didn't want to make hitting errors so we started doing a lot of pushing, which turned into swings on their end." Finally we started swinging again. Confident swings coupled with a few well-placed serves allowed us to come away with the win. “ 

            The win now makes Pekin 12-17 on the season. They will now play Thursday, Oct. 27 at Mediapolis where they hope to continue to keep their season alive. They continue to play hard and fight hard this season and have done a terrific job moving forward in the Regional round.