The Lady Panthers of Alba-Golden could not sustain the aggressive start they made at Quinlan-Ford last Thursday and fell in the bidistrict round of action against the Wolfe City Lady Wolves (29-27, 22-25, 22-25, 21-25).

In the opening set, Alba-Golden scored 14 offensive points, three scoring blocks and two aces in taking the extended first set. They went up by five points (15-10) on a Sadie Wright kill from the left wing and weathered a late Wolfe City run. 

It was Averi Stevenson who closed out the first set. She hammered a kill to tie the score at 26 and scored the last two Alba-Golden points on smartly-played drop shots.

Errors snuck into the second set. The Lady Panthers gifted Wolfe City 15 points on a variety of missteps from double-hits to service errors to illegal alignment. Once the errors started early in the set, the Lady Panthers became reactive and began playing defensive volleyball. 

In mid-set, Wolfe City put together a 7-point rally to take the lead. Alba-Golden swung the momentum back with an emphatic combined block by Faith Graham and Briana Ringgold. 

Wolfe City whistled a time out. Back in action, three consecutive Lady Panthers errors sealed the second set in Wolfe City’s favor.

The third set provided some excellent volleyball. The set was tied seven times and featured the best play of the match. Campbell Shrum reported in from the left wing with five kills, while Stevenson, Wright, Graham and Jayla Sitar contributed scoring strikes. 

Tied at 21, Alba-Golden suffered two mis-hits – one a communications failure – which opened the chance for Wolfe City to take the set. They did, with a spike from the wing.  

The Lady Panthers came out strong in the fourth set, taking a 9-5 lead behind continued scoring strikes by Stevenson and Shrum. A kill off a block by Graham – who played one of her best matches of the year – gave the Lady Panthers a 4-point edge. 

Wolfe City surged back, tying the set at 9 and again at 16. Two aces, a kill and a push shot made the difference in the end game, as Wolfe City closed out the match.

The Lady Panthers will surely feel that they left the match open for Wolfe City to take. In many ways they did. Alba-Golden simply had trouble with unforced errors and finishing sets. 

The team had some truly stellar passages of play, and fielded a talented team. In addition to the excellent setting by Sitar, Stevenson had truly come into her own throughout the season, providing much of the firepower at the net. Graham and Shrum also improved dramatically throughout the year and made significant contributions.