LANSFORD — Panther Valley has qualified for the District 11 Class AA Tournament, so the Panthers already have a postseason in front of them.
But that hardly means the challenges start there.
For instance, there was Tuesday night’s 25-13, 22-25, 25-23, 21-25, 15-9 win over defending Schuylkill League Division II champion Pine Grove on the Panthers’ home court.
“They’re always an itch,” Panther Valley head coach Nancy Filer said.
Filer knows the history. Tuesday’s match was the third in a row — two this season — in which the squads battled for five games before a winner was determined. In last year’s second meeting, Pine Grove beat the Panthers en route to the division title. This season, the Panthers (10-2, 8-2 D-II) have turned the tables with two wins over the Cardinals (6-6, 5-5).
However, while last year’s match played a pivotal role in the Division II pennant chase, the division this season contains defending PIAA Class A champion Marian, which has a two-game lead over the Panthers in its bid to represent the division in the Schuylkill League playoffs.
Nonetheless, Tuesday’s match served a purpose.
“I think it will give them confidence. They just don’t know that yet,” Filer said of her team. “I think this was an excellent match to go into the end of the year. I’m excited for both Pine Grove and Panther Valley. Tonight was fun. It was all about working hard and going to practice. Tonight, it was about coming through, and they did it.”
Though her team came up short on the scoreboard, Pine Grove’s first-year head coach, Sasha Birosik, was also smiling when talking about her squad.
“Those girls, when they get out there and they decide they want to communicate and want to give everything, they are a team that can compete with any one of these teams,” Birosik said. “They have a lot of talent out there, and they have a lot of heart.”
That heart was buoyed in the second set after Panther Valley rode seven kills by junior Jamey Markovich and a 10-point service run by senior Erin Evans to a quick win in the opening set.
With Callie Edwards at the service line to begin the second set, Pine Grove used four kills by Alexa Kolb to roll to an 8-0 lead. Panther Valley battled back within one point at 23-22, but Kayla Bressler’s kill and Brandi Wetzel’s ace secured the victory for the Cardinals.
“We relaxed, and we didn’t go for the kill,” Filer said. “We were OK with just playing volleyball. You’ve got to be cutthroat and you’ve got to go for the kill.”
Instead, Pine Grove battled evenly with the Panthers in the next three sets.
Tied at 23 in the third set, Panther Valley pulled out the win on a crosscourt kill by Hannah Hill, who had eight in the match, and a tap over the net by Jessica Wiese for one of her 12 kills in the match.
Panther Valley then took a 15-9 advantage in a fourth set that had plenty of drama. That drama included an injury timeout to allow Kolb, who had nine kills in the match, to place a bandage on her right thumb, another injury timeout called to attend to Panther Valley’s Macey Markovich, and a third stoppage when several spectators were ordered out of the gym by the match referee.
Pine Grove battled back with seven straight points, including two kills by McKayla Lally. Later with the set tied at 21, Pine Grove scored the final four points, including back-to-back kills by Bressler, who had 11 in the match.
Panther Valley then broke away from an 8-8 tie in the fifth set with a kill by Wiese. She added two more as the Panthers outscored the Cardinals 7-1 to end the match and boost the Panthers’ confidence.
Maybe enough to overtake Marian, which will host the Panthers on Oct. 9 in the final division match of the season?
“We’re praying,” Filer said. “He (Marian head coach John Fallabel) is not the only one that knows God. Someday, somewhere, it will happen.”
Panther Valley won the JV match 2-0.