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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

HELENA – The Pelham Panthers continue to establish themselves as the top team in Class 6A, Area 8, and now, they have the No. 1 seed in the area to back up that claim.

Pelham went on the road to defeat the rival Helena Huskies 3-1 on Tuesday, Oct. 1 at Helena High School to improve to 5-0 in area play.

As a result of the win, not only did the Panthers sweep the regular season series against the Huskies, but they clinched the No. 1 seed in the Class 6A, Area 8 and now have hosting rights to the area tournament.

During the match, Pelham outside hitter Londyn Wynn celebrated a career milestone as she surpassed 1,000 kills as a Panther.

To remain undefeated in area play though, Pelham had to battle a spirited effort from Helena in yet another tight match against an area opponent.

The Panthers and Huskies were tight from the opening set with only a handful of points separating the perennial rivals down the stretch. Pelham finished strong and took the 25-21 win to seal the first-set victory.

Helena continued to battle in the second set and made the rest of the match even closer than the first set.

The Huskies threatened to send the second set to extra points as they trailed just 24-23, but the Panthers finished the set off by securing set point and taking the 25-23 victory.

With Pelham now up 2-0 in the match, that forced Helena to mount a response, especially since the third set remained a closely-fought affair.

However, this time it was the Huskies’ time to come up big in the final points of the set, earning their own win by a score of 25-23 to extend the match to a fourth set.

That fourth set proved to be the closest of them all as the teams fought not only for bragging rights over their rival but to get a crucial win in area play as well.

The Panthers found themselves tied with Helena at 24-24 in the fourth set, which forced extra points. After that, the teams went back-and-forth for the next four points before Pelham landed the final blow.

Two straight points after a 26-26 tie gave the Panthers the 28-26 win in the fourth and wrapped up a tight 3-1 victory over the Huskies.

While Pelham still has one area match to go against Spain Park on Tuesday, Oct. 8 at 6 p.m. at Spain Park High School, the Panthers will officially host the area tournament for Class 6A, Area 8 at Pelham High School between Oct. 16 and 19.

Helena will return to action on Thursday, Oct. 3 for a non-area match against former area foe Briarwood at 6 p.m. at Briarwood Christian School.