For two days, Jefferson High’s Lady Panther volleyball team scratched and clawed their way to second place at the southern 5B district tournament in Manhattan.
The Lady Panthers kicked-off their post-season play on Thursday, Oct. 27 against the Whitehall Trojans — who beat the Three Forks Wolves to earn their spot in the match.
The Lady Panthers beat the Trojans in three very close sets at 25-17, 25-22 an 26-24, qualifying them for a semi-final match against the Townsend Bulldogs.
Emma McCauley, libero for Jefferson, led the team’s defense with 33 digs, two kills and one ace during the match. Second in digs was Erica Shields with 16. Shields also earned one assist and two kills.
Maddie Averill, Maria Mest, Haleigh Henschel and Jessie Harris helped on the defensive side with nine, two, seven and three digs respectively. Henschel received one ace and one kill.
MacKenzie Layng facilitated many of the team’s attacks providing 24 assists, eight digs, and one kill against the Trojans.
Arena Faler led in kills with 14, followed by Cameron Toney at 11. Faler also earned one block and four digs. Toney received one block and seven digs.
Ryian Eveland earned three blocks during the match.
The Lady Panthers picked right back-up where they left off against the Townsend Bulldogs the next morning on Friday, Oct. 28.
Despite the team’s attempts to get ahead, the Bulldogs stayed ahead of them taking the set with 25 points to the Lady Panther’s 16.
In the second set, Jefferson was able to get ahead of the Bulldogs 11-7 and remained on their heels until Townsend claimed the second set 25-19.
Down in the third set 6-11, the Lady Panthers rallied together during Henschel’s serve, clawing their way to 17-11. From here Jefferson was able to stay ahead, earning the third set 25-17.
The Bulldogs got a slight early lead in the fourth set, leaving the Lady Panthers trailing only 6-9. However, when Henschel started serving, the tide changed and Jefferson was up 11-9.
Ultimately, Townsend’s Bulldogs took the fourth set 25-18 advancing into the Championship match and sending the Lady Panthers into yet another semi-final match against the Whitehall Trojans.
Although the Trojans battled valiantly, the Lady Panthers came out on top yet again 25-23, 26-28, 25-17 and 25-14.
Finally in the championship match, the Lady Panthers faced their rivals — the Townsend Bulldogs — yet again.
Up 11-3 on the Bulldogs, things looked good for the Lady Panthers. The rest of the set was neck-in-neck with the Bulldogs eventually finishing the set 26 to Jefferson’s 24.
Tired from a long day of volleyball, the Lady Panthers fell in the next set 11-25 and battled in the third up to 24-26.
As second place in the southern 5B division, the Lady Panthers qualified for the Southern B Divisional tournament on Nov. 3 through 5 in Manhattan.
Jefferson’s first match will take place at 2:30 p.m. against the Shepherd Fillies, who placed second in the Southern 4B District tournament.
