After losing at Perry earlier in the season, Xavier Prep avenged the loss, defeating Perry 25-20, 25-13, 28-26 Wednesday night at home.

“We were up so big at their place and couldn’t close it out, which is uncharacteristic of Xavier teams. So we wanted to make sure we took care of business here,” Xavier coach Lamar-Renee Bryant said.

Both teams were focused on winning an important match from the start of the 6A section meeting.

Xavier took off on a short run first in set No. 1 after an ace from its setter, Shannon Shields. Xavier's unselfishness also was on display. 

“We’re playing for the person next to us instead of being selfish and that’s really helped us,” Xavier middle Makena Patterson said. “When you get in your own head it’s so hard to come out of that.”

During the first set, both teams communicated and played defense very well.

Perry’s libero, Halle Razo, was a force, digging kill after kill from Xavier’s attackers, but Xavier still prevailed in the first set.

Xavier took an early lead in set No. 2, as Shields' serving netted 13 points near the beginning of the set and Xavier’s crowd roared with approval. Perry’s defense also could not catch a break as the kills came bearing down from the Xavier side.

“I think it was kind of just a lack of communication and our serve-receive,” Perry captain Amanda Aguirre said. “I think once we cleaned that up towards the end it went a lot better for us.”

Xavier's run was broken eventually by a kill from Perry’s Grace Doyle. Several errors hampered Xavier at times but didn't derail the team.

Game point beckoned after a short rally ended with a kill from Patterson. When Perry’s Ryann Davis served into the net, Game 2 belonged to Xavier.

“We were really motivated this match, because the last match was kind of taken out from under us,” Patterson said.

Xavier went into the third set with a lot of confidence, but Perry coach Fred Mann gave his team some words of encouragement.

“He (Mann) always says no matter win or lose, new game, 0-0, start out fresh so we have a fresh mindset going into every set,” Aguirre said.

The third set was highlighted by back-and-forth rallies and a Perry team that exuded energy.

But off-side hitter Grace Morrison of Xavier stepped up, recording seven kills in the third set. Perry played the net well in the final set, allowing it to take a small lead.

But Perry stumbled when it couldn’t cover a tip by Xavier’s Briana McKnight. The teams then took turns making errors before Xavier won by two in the third set.

“I felt like they [Xavier] played really well against us. They served well early,” Mann said. “Late, we had an opportunity. We missed a bunch of serves, which really hurt us. It’s a kind of disappointing match overall.”

The victory left Xavier (30-6 overall, 4-2 section) in second place in the Premier Section. Perry (23-5 overall, 3-3 section) has dropped three of its last four matches.