Presley Hickman Records 20 Kills As Upperman Takes Down Stone Memorial, 3-1

By Michael Lindsay

The Upperman Lady Bees improved to 3-0 in District 7-2A action Wednesday evening as they defeated Stone Memorial in a home match, 3-1.

Wednesday was the first matchup against Stone Memorial for Upperman head coach Tori Permenter, who coached the Lady Panthers for the previous 7 years before taking the Upperman position this offseason.

“It was an emotional night, and my girls knew that,” said Permenter. “I feel so honored and blessed to coach this team. They’ve worked so hard and want to prove something this season. This was a full-on team effort and we finally matched the talent and the hard work.”

Upperman won the first set 25-15 before Stone Memorial battled to take the second set, 25-23. Upperman bounced back in the third to win by a 25-15 margin again before closing out the victory with a win in the fourth set, 25-17.

“We stayed disciplined and limited the errors,” said Permenter. “We relied on each other and communicated well.”

Presley Hickman led the way with Upperman with 20 kills and 3 aces along with 10 kills and 2 aces by Emma Pruitt. Lucy Grothe led Stone Memorial with 10 kills along with 7 by Lauren Clark.

“We had a game plan and stuck to it,” said Permenter. “Presley had a 20-piece tonight and she led us big-time on the outside. My setter (Emery Huddleston) just reached a career milestone (500 career assists) and really kept our offense going.”

Upperman improves to 10-2 overall and 3-0 in district play.

“The community support is insane here,” said Permenter. “I respect the heck out of the McWilliams family and all of the great coaches here. When I took this job here, I want to be great just like them. I want to bring greatness to volleyball just like basketball, football, baseball and all the sports here.”

Upperman is back in action on Friday at 1:30 p.m. for a day game at White County while Stone Memorial travels to Gordonsville Monday afternoon.