Before every Alabama volleyball match, Ginger Perinar dons a yellow ponytail on her shoe and gets her hair braided from teammate Mahalia Swank. The one time Swank didn’t braid Perinar’s hair, the Crimson Tide lost. Since then, Perinar has made sure Swank braids her hair before stepping out onto the court.
Perinar, a sophomore who transferred from Southern Illinois is in her first year at Alabama. While at Southern Illinois, she was named to the Missouri Valley Conference All-Freshman team. This year she has played in 22 matches for the Crimson Tide, and even though an injury has slowed her down of late, coach Ed Allen loves what Perinar brings to his team.
“She re-pulled her back like two weeks ago so she’s been working hard to get back, but before the injury I thought she was peaking at the right time,” Allen said. “Ginger has the ability to hit from quick tempo and when she gets to the ball she has the ability to use the front quarter of the court as well as any player we got.”
Growing up, Perinar always knew she wanted to play volleyball. Her older siblings who also played volleyball, served as a mentor for Perinar since they knew what it took to be a volleyball player at the next level. In fact, all of her four siblings have played/are playing collegiate volleyball. Surprisingly, her parents didn’t play volleyball.
“My older sister just started playing volleyball and the rest of her just kind of followed her lead,” Perinar said. “When I was growing up like any little sister, I always looked up to my older sister and wanted to do everything she did whether it was academically or in volleyball.”
Alabama is 17-11 and 5-9 in SEC play. The Crimson Tide is coming off a win against Tennessee where Perinar had 15 kills. Allen said the last four games are crucial for his team.
“We have four matches left to play, and I believe we control our own destiny as far as the NCAA Tournament,” Allen said. “Half of those games are at home, so we have every opportunity to do what we need to do.”
Alabama at South Carolina
When: 6 p.m. CT, Friday, Nov. 17
Where: Columbia, S.C.
Records: Alabama 17-11, 5-9 SEC; So. Carolina 11-15, 4-10 SEC
Live stats: www.rolltide.com
