Perry girls volleyball coach Fred Mann likes to maintain a balance in his team's matches over the course of a season. A little here, a little there. Endeavoring not to overdue it or be idle for too long.

Such it was this weekend at Chaparral High's Birdcage Classic for the Pumas. An eight-team field featuring three No. 1 ranked teams, inlcuding Perry in 6A, and four of the other five in the top 10 of their respective conferences.

Perry earned the top seed for Saturday's bracket play after a 3-0-1 Friday. The Pumas seemed at their best in the title match as they bested Cactus Shadows, 25-9, 25-13. Perry is 15-0-1 in its last 16 matches.

"We're finishing up fall break and had a couple matches last week," Mann said. "We had no matches this week. I didn't want to go a week without a match. So we got in this tournament. I like to have us get a little rhyth  before we play the tough matches we have left (Xavier Prep, Hamilton and Chandler)."

Perry dodged a glitch in its bid to win the tournament in its opening match of bracket play. The Pumas lost their first set to Pinnacle 25-12 and were able to pull out a 26-24 win in the second. They took the third 15-10 and didn't lose a set the rest of the day.`

In Saturday's final with Cactus Shadows, it was my goodness, Grace Doyle. The senior middle  registered four kills in four attempts and six blocks in the two-set win over Cactus Shadows. She has been a difference maker often of late.

"It's big to have five blocks in a match," Mann said. "We we played Xavier (Sept. 26) she had five blocks in the fifth set. She's not a person that draws attention to herself. I can't say enough how much she does for us."

 

Junior outside hitter Tatum Stall led the title-match attack for Perry with nine kills. Perry excelled from the service line as well with Melissa Blockey and Matea Suan supplying a pair of aces each.

Cactus Shadows reached the final coming back through the loser's bracket. The Falcons avenged a sweep by Scottsdale Christian in the second round of bracket play by returning the favor to get a second chance at Perry from Friday's play.  Scottsdale Christian, the defending 2A state champs, finished 5-3 in the tournament. Two of those losses were to Perry.