Lady Panthers make come back win

The Alberton Lady Panthers know what it means to stage a comeback.

After falling behind 24 – 16 in their third game against the St. Regis Lady Tigers, the Panthers made a stunning comeback to win not only the game, but the entire match.

“The girls didn’t give up once. I’m so proud of them,” said Lady Panthers Head Coach Sean Lockrem.

The night started off with a close Lady Panthers win. The two teams were neck and neck for the entire first game and were tied at 23 points a piece when the Lady Panthers made a push for two points to win the match 25 – 23.

“Our biggest weakness was not being able to finish it,” Lady Tigers Head Coach Cindy Feasel said.

During the second game of the evening the Lady Tigers came out doing what they do best, hitting hard. They took an early 10 – 2 lead over the Lady Panthers and scored at least four points on half of their serves during the second game.

The Lady Panthers struggled to keep up, and the Lady Tigers finished off the game with a 25 – 8 win.

The third game of the evening looked like it would be much like the second with the Lady Tigers holding a commanding lead over the Lady Panthers for much of the game.

However, with a 24–16 deficit, the Panthers came back to tie up the match with sophomore Christie Rimmer serving.

“I think we started serving a lot bettering the third game,” Lockrem said.

The two teams volleyed for the final point but Alberton finally came out on top with a 28 – 26 victory.

In the fourth game of the evening both teams started giving it everything they had. The Lady Tigers continued to try to spike the Lady Panthers into submission but the Lady Panthers played an extremely tough defensive game, bringing in a stunning team total of 90 digs over the entire match.

“They have some hitters and we really worked on our defense this week and I think it showed tonight,” Lockrem said.

The teams were neck and neck for most of the fourth game, but the Tigers came from behind with a 22 – 23 deficit to win the match 25 – 23.

“We did some really nice things. Our setting really looked better,” Feasel said.

In the final game of the evening the Lady Panthers took a 7 – 3 lead over the Lady Tigers early in the game. The Lady Tigers managed to catch up and overtake the Lady Panthers 9 – 8.

However, with Sarah Bunton serving, the Lady Panthers managed to regain their lead at 13 – 10 and win the final game with a 15 – 12 score.

“It’s a good way to go into districts for us,” Lockrem said.

Feasel said that the Lady Tigers played well, but they had trouble sealing the deal on the clinch games.

”Overall we actually had a pretty good night. It’s just hard to lose those ones when you’re so close,” Feasel said.

Lady Panther Lyndi Ishler posted eight of the team’s 26 kills and 13 of the team’s 18 assists during the game. Rimmer brought in 25 of the team’s 90 digs and Jenna Rausch had four of the team’s 12 aces.

Lady Tigers Heather Pruitt and Brianna Managhan each brought in seven of the team’s 27 kills and eight of the team’s 28 digs. Ashley Ramsey brought in six of the team’s 18 aces and she and Pruitt each brought in two of the team’s six blocks. Leandra Baldwin posted nine of the team’s 18 assists.