Lady Panthers lose three

It was another tough week for the Alberton Lady Panthers volleyball team. They played Arlee on last Tuesday and then played a game against Victor on Saturday.

At home against Arlee, the Panthers lost three straight games to their opponent, 8-25, 15-25 and 8-25.

Coach Rachel Clevenger said the team was having trouble with serve receives against Arlee. Prior to the game, Alberton practiced serve receive, but Arlee servers came against the Panthers strong.

“Their serves just tore us apart and we fell apart,” Clevenger said.

Hitting was also a weak point for the Alberton, earning a total of three kills against Arlee, while Arlee had nine kills against them.

“Our setter, Christie Rimmer, struggled a bit, which had something to do with it, but our hitting wasn’t too good,” Clevenger said.

During the game, Rimmer had three assists and Mariah Turnbull had two aces serving for the team. Jenna Rausch had two digs for the Panthers, two kills and two blocks. The Panthers had nine digs total for the match.

After the rough game against Arlee, the Panthers traveled to Victor on Saturday. Clevenger felt the game against Victor went better and they played four games, winning one, but all were closer in score.

“It was good for them because we haven’t been in a lot of close games,” Clevenger said. “It was a whole new ball game for them.”

Clevenger said the close games added pressure to the players, who struggled a bit to handle the pressure, but overall felt like it was a good experience for them.

“When games are tight, it’s only a couple of points before someone wins. I think it was good for them because there should be a few more games where we’re close,” Clevenger said. “For experience, they needed that. They just needed to be more focused on serving and serve receive.”

So far this season, the Panthers have only won one match against Noxon. Clevenger said it’s difficult because she feels like the team has the potential to be a threat on the court.

“Some of the games we’ve lost I felt we could have played for four or five games,” she said. “We have the potential to do that rather than just losing the first three and losing in the single digits. But it’s a lot of mental mistakes.”

Clevenger said the team struggles when they fall behind by six or seven points.

“We find ourselves in a hole and we can’t get out,” she said.

Despite the season’s hardships, Clevenger said she feels, so far, her team still has a chance to do something good out on the court.

“They’ve got a good attitude,” Clevenger said. “We just have to start focusing.”

The Panthers play at home against Lincoln on Thursday and have a tournament at Arlee on Saturday.