Tristiana Abila remembered the message in her team’s huddles late in sets Tuesday night.

‘Put balls down.’ ‘Don’t be scared.’ ‘Swing.’

The Lady Panthers did just that — and Abila smoked the match-deciding kill down into the center of the court to lift the Permian volleyball team to a win over rival Odessa High on Tuesday night at the OHS Fieldhouse.
“It feels good,” Abila said after the victory.

Permian won 25-22, 25-22, 23-25, 25-22, picking up the points it needed at crucial moments to get by the Lady Bronchos in four back-and-forth sets.

Abila led Permian with 14 kills, while Hallie Silvas added another 10, and the Lady Panthers picked up their first district win while avenging a rivalry loss on the road at Odessa High last season.

Hanna Hetherington put down a kill to cap a comeback first-set win for Permian. Permian didn’t hold a lead in that one until 21-20, but then won four of the last six points to go up early.

A Silvas kill won the second set, after the Lady Panthers staved off a late six-point run from Odessa High, which cut Permian’s 20-13 lead to 20-19. Permian scored five of the next six points, though before Silvas ended that one at 25-22.

Odessa High won another tightly contested set in the third, but in the fourth, the Lady Panthers managed to seal it with more clutch points in the deciding moments.

“I thought we did really well,” Permian head coach Gillian Herrera said. “It’s tough to come in here and play.

“They got one on us last year here, and I think we had a little chip on our shoulders, and came in here and played. I was proud of them.”

The win marked Permian’s first in District 2-6A play, after a league-opening loss to San Angelo Central last Friday. Odessa High dropped to 0-2 in district.

“The first one’s the toughest,” Herrera said. “We have a very tough district. Nobody wants to give up anything.
“I was really proud of the fight that I saw tonight. We haven’t been in a lot of those situations where we’re neck-and-neck, and I was proud of them finishing.”

Permian libero Alissa Miramontez led the Lady Panthers with 46 digs.

“It feels good,” she said. “I definitely think we still have a lot of things we need to work on. Games like this just teach us what our weaknesses are.

“We’ve just got to keep pushing and focus on us.”

Permian’s win avenged a five-set rivalry loss at Odessa High last season, which Abila and Miramontez admitted was on the Lady Panthers’ mind when they returned to the OHS Fieldhouse on Tuesday.

“It was definitely on some of the returners minds,” Abila said. “It motivated us to put balls down — to just play hard.”
Destiny Velasquez and Adalia Elizondo led Odessa High’s attack with 12 kills each.

“I saw a lot of good things,” Odessa High head coach Victoria Smith said. “It was a very intense game. Permian played great. We played great.

“I felt like we were evenly matched in a lot of areas, which made for a good game,” she said, before a pause. “I just want to see my team finish.”

Odessa High led 16-12 in the opening set, before Permian started to mount its comeback, then win the deciding points down the stretch. The Lady Bronchos led through much of the fourth set, too, taking a 6-0 lead early and leading 15-12 before Permian made its way back again.

“I think it’s mental,” Smith said of her team’s struggle to finish sets Tuesday. “Volleyball is a mental game. We have some type of mental block, but we’re working on it. And it’ll be gone soon.

“We’re obviously capable,” she added. “There’s no doubt about it. I believe in my team 100-percent. We’ve just got to put it all together.”

That’s what Permian managed to do Tuesday.

“The biggest part is, they finished,” Herrera said. “We haven’t been in a lot of those matches where it’s gone four or five, especially in our favor, so I was really proud that they stepped up and finished.”

Permian will host Midland High on Friday, while Odessa High is off until the Lady Bronchos play at Midland High next Tuesday.
