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Pelham swept away Jasper to book its spot in the Class 6A semifinals later today at 4 p.m. against Gulf Shores. (Reporter Photos/Andrew Simonson)

By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

BIRMINGHAM – The Pelham Panthers continued to fight hard in the Class 6A quarterfinals and as a result, they are now one of the final four teams remaining in the fight for a state championship.

Pelham beat the Jasper Vikings 3-0 on Tuesday, Oct. 29 at the Birmingham CrossPlex to advance to the Class 6A semifinals, where the team will face the Gulf Shores Dolphins in a rematch of the South Super Regional semifinals, which the Panthers also won 3-0.

That semifinal match will start at 4 p.m. at the CrossPlex, with the winner set to take on either Chelsea or Spanish Fort in the state championship game on Wednesday at 10 a.m. at the neighboring Bill Harris Arena.

In order to get the win though, Pelham had to overcome some early adversity in the first set from a Vikings side that was led by former Spain Park coach Kellye Bowen.

After Jasper emerged from a 2-2 tie to go up 4-2, the Vikings extended their lead to 10-4 to tighten their grip on the opening frame.

Pelham used an ace to cut the deficit to 11-8, and after the teams split the next few points, the Panthers made their move.

A 5-1 run tied up the set at 14-14 before Pelham took a 15-14 lead. Jasper then tied up the set once again, but three straight Panthers points put them up 18-15 and forced the Vikings to regroup.

Pelham continued to remain in front during the next stretch and sat just two points away from taking the set with a 23-18 lead. However, Jasper went on a 3-0 run to make it a 23-21 game.

That forced a timeout from Panthers coach Perry Robinson, and the stoppage also stopped the Vikings momentum. Pelham won the next two points out of the timeout to win the first set 25-21.

The second set was also tight to begin with as Jasper took a 2-1 lead before Pelham got out in front 3-2. That close nature continued even as the Panthers built a small two-point cushion over the Vikings as their 7-5 advantage turned into a 14-12 lead.

From that point on though, Pelham didn’t lose a single point and won 11 straight to finish out the set. The dominant run gave the Panthers a 25-12 second-set victory and put them just a set away from the semifinals.

Jasper took a 3-1 lead to start the third set before Pelham won six straight points with Kylee Hester on the service line, including an ace from her and a block from Camryn McMinn and Kaliyah Arrington.

The Vikings briefly broke up the lead, but the Panthers remained in control as they built out a 21-12 lead.

Jasper still had one last bit of fight left in it as the team chipped away at the Pelham lead and made it a 24-20 game with the Panthers on match point.

Londyn Wynn put away Pelham’s second chance at match point to seal the 25-20 third-set win and cap off a 3-0 sweep of the Vikings.

McMinn led the Panthers with 18 kills, nine digs and two blocks while Wynn tallied 13 kills and five digs. Kylee Hester directed traffic to both outsides and earned 41 assists, seven digs and four aces, and Kamryn Rouveyrol secured 19 digs in the victory.

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