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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

HUNTSVILLE – Fresh off a 3-0 sweep of Tuscaloosa County on Thursday, Aug. 29, the Pelham Panthers spent their Labor Day weekend picking up more wins at the Ironman Tournament at Huntsville High School on Aug. 30-31.

Pelham went 3-2 on the weekend including wins over the Northridge Jaguars, DAR Patriots, and James Clemens Jets.

Before the Panthers headed north, they turned in a dominant performance against the Class 7A Tuscaloosa County Wildcats.

After starting out the match with a double-digit first set win of 25-13, Pelham rolled to an even larger victory in the second set. The Panthers kept the Wildcats under 10 points for the entire set as they took a 25-8 win.

Now with a commanding 2-0 lead in the match, Pelham faced a stiffer challenge from Tuscaloosa County in the third set, but it still ended up with the 25-20 win to secure the sweep.

Camryn McMinn led the offense with 18 kills and a +.333 hitting percentage, and Londyn Wynn had 11 kills for a .458 hitting percentage as well as nine digs.

Kylee Hester racked up 33 assists and nine digs, Juliana Bitas had five aces and no errors while serving and Kamryn Rouveyrol finished with a team-high 13 digs.

The Panthers parlayed that win into a solid start to the Ironman against Northridge.

Pelham kicked off the match with a bang thanks to a big first set victory by a score of 25-14.

From there, the Panthers saw out the sweep with a 25-19 win in the second set, securing the 2-0 match win.

Wynn led the team with 10 kills while McMinn had eight, Hester had 20 assists and Rouveyrol got four assisted blocks and nine digs. Senior Madison Swinford secured three assisted blocks as well.

Pelham continued its winning ways against DAR and came out firing in the first set.

The Panthers nearly kept the Patriots in single digits for the entirety of the set and went on to take a 25-10 win in the opening frame.

DAR came back and made the second set much closer, but it still ended the same way: in a Pelham victory, this time by a final score of 25-20.

Wynn got 10 kills for the second straight match to lead the offense, McMinn got nine digs, Bitas picked up seven digs and Hester had 16 assists.

That 2-0 victory sent the Panthers into day two of the Ironman with an eight-match win streak, which started a week before then in the Bronze Bracket of the Juanita Boddie.

Pelham faced a stiff test from tournament hosts and Class 7A side Huntsville, but early on, it established itself as the favorite with a 25-19 win in the first set.

Huntsville, however, would not allow Pelham to continue its win streak and saw out the victory from there.

The hosts took the second set 25-15 to force a decisive third set which they also won 15-10, securing the 2-1 win in the match and breaking Pelham’s win streak.

McMinn had eight kills in defeat, Wynn had eight kills, Rouveyrol had eight digs and Hester had 21 assists.

The Panthers got a chance to bounce back against another Class 7A team, the James Clemens Jets, and this time, they came out on the right side of a three-set victory.

The match was close in each set, and James Clemens was just a few points away from a tie as the first set drew to a close. However, Pelham secured the win by a score of 25-20 to go up 1-0 in the match.

The second set was even closer, but this time, it was the Jets who were up by one on set point. James Clemens narrowly took the second set 25-23 and tied up the match at 1-1.

With the momentum going the Jets’ way heading into the third set, the Panthers buckled down and held them off to win the final set 15-10 and claim the 2-1 win.

McMinn secured 15 kills in the match while Hester once again had 21 assists. Both McMinn and Wynn reached double-figures on digs with 12 and 11 respectively. Kaliyah Arrington and Aubrie Smith both had three blocks with one of Smith’s being a solo block.

That sent Pelham into a matchup with the Hazel Green Trojans, and it was one that didn’t go the Panthers’ way.

Hazel Green came out and took hold of the match in the first set, earning the 25-15 win in the process.

The Panthers were more competitive in the second set and were tied up with the Trojans at 24 points apiece at the end of the set. It ultimately took three rounds of extra points to declare a winner, and that winner was Hazel Green as it took the second set by a score of 28-26.

McMinn had her best kill total of the tournament in the game against the Trojans with 15 kills, and she also added seven digs and a solo block. Rouveyrol led the team with 13 digs, and Hester had 18 assists and seven digs.

Pelham will return to action on Thursday, Sept. 5 when it hosts the Jasper Vikings and Northridge Jaguars in a tri-match. The Jasper match is set to start at 4 p.m. before the rematch against Northridge at 6 p.m.