Three-peat for Panther Valley

The Panther Express keeps breezing along.

Without interruption.

Like a true champion, the Panther Valley girls picked up their third straight District 11 Class 2A volleyball championship Tuesday evening, sweeping a familiar foe.

Using an early getaway, the Panthers jumped on Jim Thorpe in the opening set, roaring to a 25-20 win in a set that wasn’t that close.

PV put the clamps on the hopeful Olympians with 25-23 and 25-20 wins in Sets 2 and 3 to attain the tough three-peat act. It was a terrific evening for PV’s coach of 19 years, Nancy Filer, who watched her team improve to 20-1, while rolling into the first round of the upcoming state tournament.

“Yeah, I was excited,” said Filer, admitting she had a restless night of sleep. “The (layoff) was too long, and I want to play tomorrow. I don’t want to wait.”

The Panthers were controlling the tempo at the onset, and that’s their game.

They looked unbeatable, storming to a 10-3 lead to start the contest and eventually pulled in front 21-12. There was an answer by the Olympians when they closed the margin to 21-17, but they just couldn’t overtake the Panthers. When sophomore Erika Dubosky cranked up a windmill slam for a kill, that sealed the first set.

“Jim Thorpe plays so hard against us,” said Dubosky. “It’s so intense with them … but it’s really exciting. We hit a spell and lost the (momentum). Sometimes we’re not on; we get down (on ourselves) and we hit a (wall).”

It was a donnybrook second set. The Olympians rallied with some superb play by Kelsey Carroll. If Carroll wasn’t getting her hand in the action, sophomore Brandy Montemuro was in the thick of things, as well as fellow soph Autumn Snyder.

“We (did) play our hardest,” said Thorpe head coach Victoria Nichols, who has taken the program to the next level. “We had hitting errors, but that didn’t bring them down, they wanted to keep swinging.”

Thorpe forced tie after tie, but just couldn’t get over the hump. Then it got really unsettling for both sides down the stretch of the second set.

Carroll served an ace that knotted the score, 21-21, and when her team picked up another point for a 22-21 lead, the intensity was building.

The Panthers didn’t wilt as one of Rachelle Filer’s patented soft kills, something she has perfected, tied it at 23-23. That set the stage for one of PV’s unsung stars, Oliva Dacey, who has become a go-to player during the postseason. Dacey pounded a pair of buzz-saw kills to end the suspense and give her team the second set.

“When it came down to the close of that second set, I knew I had to (step up),” said Dacey. “I feel amazing, this is our third (straight) championship.”

Though the second set produced a lot of angsts, it was a near duplicate in the third. Yet it didn’t start that way.

There was no nail-biting for the Panthers, but Thorpe reversed a 9-1 deficit and stormed back with a purpose. The Olympians forged ties at 12, 13, 14, and finally at 17. But there was Dacey with a kill, and that seemed to burst the JT bubble. A return error gave PV another point and newly-inserted server, Lyddia Malaska, punched home an ace. When Jenna Dubosky smacked home a kill for her team, the Panthers were on the way with a 22-18 lead.

Even though the Olympians closed within a point, PV stood steady with a pair of kills by Emilee Kwaak. The coup de grace came from Dubosky, who was nursing a back injury, with a slammer of a kill to seal the championship.

“That’s what a team is for,” said Filer the coach about the final sequence and the ability of the Panthers to stave off Jim Thorpe. “We always have each other’s backs.”

RIDING HIGH … The only time PV faltered was on the final playing date of the regular season to Blue Mountain. Since that loss, PV has swung back into the winning mode with a pair of championships — the Schuylkill and now districts.

ADDING TO THE MIX … The Panthers are getting more and more stronger depth play from sophomore Alexis Cooper, and juniors Gianna Steber and Malaska. They’ll need that during the next phase of the season.

THE NUMBERS … PV’s Dacey and Filer both shared the team-lead in kills with nine each; Erika Dubosky had seven, while Jenna Dubosky recorded 13 service points. Erika Dubosky picked up 12 digs with Kwaak right behind her with 10.