Records can be deceiving.

The P.K. Yonge volleyball team entered its home match with district rival Oak Hall on Thursday night with a record of 2-11, while the visiting Eagles were 10-2.

The host Blue Wave battled all night, including just a two-point loss in the final set, but Oak Hall swept them 25-22, 25-19, 25-23 in a Class 2A-District 1 game.

“They (PKY) did a really good job this match, they were very competitive, and they had home-field advantage too, but the girls, my hitters especially, they showed up tonight,” said Oak Hall senior Cassidy McDonald (24 assists, 10 digs, two aces, and seven service points). “They did a very good job swinging out of system. PK put us in a little bit of an uncomfortable position, but the girls pulled through and they did a good job.”

P.K. Yonge seventh-grader Holdyn Moore set the tone early with a pair of kills during a 6-0 run to give the Lady Blue Wave (2-12) a 7-2 lead.

“She’s special,” said P.K. Yonge coach Chancie Vice. “She reminds me of a mixture of Meme Davis and Brooklyn Tealer. She has Brooklyn Tealer’s attitude but Meme Davis’ athleticism, and it’s fun to coach. It’s challenging for sure because she’s only 12. She’s so young. She jumps out of the gym, she swings super hard, and I think what I love most about Holdyn is that she’s not afraid to make a mistake.”

Sophomore Kendylle Bishop (3 aces, 7 service points) took over for Oak Hall (11-2) in the middle, with six of her 11 kills in the opening set, finishing the set with one of her five blocks for a 25-22 win and a 1-0 lead.

“Kendylle 100% had a brilliant night, and she did it with us manipulating where she played,” said Cassidy’s dad and Oak Hall head coach Perry McDonald. “She’s been playing right side for us the majority of the year…getting her at her best tonight was one of the big keys why we were able to pull off a three-set win.”

Both teams went back-and-forth in the second set, which was a one-point lead for Oak Hall, 16-15, following a kill by P.K. Yonge eighth-grader Ajha Graddy.

“She did really, really well, and stepped up big in a leadership role, stepped up big offensively, so I was very impressed by that,” said P.K. Yonge coach Chancie Vice.

Eagles’ sophomore Paige Sherrod had a kill for a 17-15 lead, followed by consecutive aces by senior Sarah Miller for a 19-15 lead.

Juniors Hannah Timm and Lizzie Cannon each finished with six kills as both played a significant role in the second set for the Eagles, who never let P.K. Yonge lead by more than a point.

Senior Emma Raulerson (3 aces, 10 service points) finished off the set with a perfectly placed ball in the back left corner for the game-winner and a 25-19 win to give Oak Hall a 2-0 lead.

“It was phenomenal, no question about it,” Perry McDonald said. “I think Emma is one of those unsung heroes on our team. She is a young woman that serves well, plays solid defense, does a decent job in serve-receive for us, and produces in the front row with both blocking and attacking. She is absolutely one of those people who gets overlooked and doesn’t get enough praise and love.”

P.K. Yonge didn’t give up, overcoming an early 4-1 deficit on three straight aces by senior Sara Duggan (6 service points, 10 digs).

The set turned when the Blue Wave’s lone senior, Trinity Jacobs, helped spark a 9-0 run with a kill and four aces for a 15-8 lead.

“Trinity is one of the very few players who can handle pressure,” Vice said. “When it comes to not making those unforced errors, she’s definitely the go-to player that you can lean on, for sure. She has really stepped up and taken on the senior responsibilities.”

Oak Hall answered with a 6-0 run, which began with a kill by Cannon and a pair of aces by Cassidy McDonald to move within one at 16-15.

After P.K. Yonge grabbed a 19-16 lead on a service error by Duggan, Oak Hall went on a 5-0 run to take a 21-19 lead and the Blue Wave never led again in a 25-23 loss in game three.

“I think you have to give the PK kids a tremendous amount of credit and for me it’s bittersweet in that I have more great memories from this gym than anywhere else in town,” said McDonald, who was a coach at PKY from 2003-2010. “I have parents on the sidelines that have kids playing that were siblings of players that I coached. I have assistant coaches in the stands and families that I’ve known for years, and the Athletic Director (Valerie Flournoy) is one of my old players. I have more love for P.K. Yonge that I can possibly express and I’m really proud of the fact that they punched us in the face repeatedly and made us extraordinarily uncomfortable.”

However, he followed that up with praise for his team, as nine of his 13 players were sick this week and at one point almost all of them were out at the same time.

“I give the Oak Hall kids a tremendous amount of credit,” said Perry McDonald, who had to cancel their game at Columbia (Lake City) on Tuesday because a majority of his team was sick. “They took those punches tonight and they found ways to come through and scrap together points and find ways to score while digging ourselves holes in multiple sets…it showed a tremendous amount of stamina, character and perseverance.”

Senior Sophie Thompson (2 assists) had 20 digs to lead Oak Hall, which will host Countryside Christian at 6:15 p.m. on Tuesday.

P.K. Yonge is back at home on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. against Union County (Lake Butler).

“I think what we really struggled with tonight was leadership and finding that will to win,” Vice said. “We’re struggling a bit with confidence right now because our record is not what we want it to be. It’s definitely not a reflection of our program…so it’s just managing the feelings in our players to be able to understand that their confidence can’t come from our record. Their confidence has to come from what they do and they leave on the court.”