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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

MONTGOMERY – The Pelham Panthers will head into the Class 6A State Tournament with the No. 2 seed out of the South Super Regional after defeating the Gulf Shores Dolphins 3-1 in the semifinals on Thursday, Oct. 24.

The Panthers would go on to fall in straight sets to area foe Chelsea for the region title, but they finished the tournament with a 3-1 record to set themselves up well in their quest for a state title.

Pelham took early control of the match with a 6-3 lead before Gulf Shores tied up the opening set at 6-6. That gave way to a 4-1 lead for the Panthers to put them back up 10-7, triggering a Dolphins timeout.

During the next stretch of the set, Pelham continued to lead and even extended its advantage to 14-9 before Gulf Shores huddled up once again.

Soon after that though, the Dolphins flipped a 15-10 deficit on its head with a 5-0 run to tie up the set at 15-15.

Pelham retook the lead immediately after, but the teams traded the next seven points in a back-and-forth battle that even saw Gulf Shores take the lead on two separate occasions.

After a 19-19 tie, the Panthers then scored twice back-to-back to grab hold of the lead for good. Pelham ended the set with a 3-0 run to earn the 25-21 victory in the opening frame.

Gulf Shores mounted a big response to start the second set with a 4-0 run. The Dolphins remained in front and led 6-3 before the Panthers stormed back to go up 7-6.

However, Gulf Shores immediately took the lead back and then reclaimed it again once Pelham tied it up. That lead grew to 14-10 and put pressure on the Panthers to fight back.

Pelham then went on a 5-0 run to take a 15-14 lead and force a Dolphins timeout, and that lead would hold for the rest of the set.

Gulf Shores briefly made it a one-point game at 17-16 before the Panthers claimed three points in a row to lead 20-17.

The Dolphins mounted one last response in the set with back-to-back points to make the score 20-18, but Londyn Wynn made sure that they couldn’t get closer than that.

She got kills on three of Pelham’s final five points that it won, capped off by a swing that went across the length of the net to seal the 25-20 win.

Needing just one set win to advance to the regional finals, the Panthers won the first two points of the third set to try and establish a lead.

However, Gulf Shores went on an 8-1 run that completely flipped the momentum in its favor, giving it an 8-3 lead that Pelham couldn’t overcome. The Dolphins made the lead 15-7 before the Panthers called timeout to regroup.

Pelham won the next three points out of the timeout and later got as close as three points from the lead at both 18-15 and 20-17. That was before Gulf Shores used a 4-0 run to get on set point with a 24-17 win.

The Panthers got a kill to briefly keep the set alive, but the Dolphins won a play at the net on the ensuing point to win the third set 25-18 and extend the match to a fourth set.

Pelham responded in a commanding way in the following set, getting out to a 7-2 lead in the early moments of the fourth.

That proved to be the final turning point as the Panthers pulled away in the middle part of the set, turning a 9-5 lead into a dominant 21-10 advantage off a 12-5 run.

After Gulf Shores took one more point, Pelham won four straight to cap its performance off, including a Wynn ace to clinch the 25-11 fourth-set victory, a 3-1 win over the Dolphins and a date with Chelsea for the region title.

Chelsea took early command of the first set against the Panthers with a 6-1 run. Pelham cut the deficit to three shortly after that, but the Hornets used a 5-0 run to go up 12-5 over their area foes.

The Panthers responded to trail by just a couple of points, but Chelsea found ways through the Pelham block to maintain its lead.

The Hornets then won three straight points to take a 21-16 lead, and that put it just out of reach for the Panthers.

Pelham broke Chelsea’s serve twice in the final stretch, but Lauren Buchanan put the finishing touch on the 25-18 first-set win with a kill.

The Hornets emerged from a tight opening stretch to the third by going on a 6-2 run punctuated by a setter kill from Cara Belcher and another key kill from Alexis Rudolph to make the lead 9-5.

Pelham then drew within two to make it 11-9, but a Lila Willett ace sandwiched between two Buchanan kills made the lead 14-9. That advantage quickly grew to 18-11 off a pair of Panthers miscues before Perry Robinson called timeout.

A few points later with Pelham trailing 21-13, Caroline Hamby orchestrated a 4-0 run on the serve capped off by an ace to make the deficit 21-17.

While the Panthers couldn’t get the next shot to ride the tape and sent the serve back to Chelsea, they won the next two points and trailed just 22-19.

Willett broke up the serve with a kill, but Pelham responded with another point. It took kills from Buchanan and then Rudolph to put the set away for a 25-20 Hornets win.

Rudolph then took the serve to start the third set and got an ace to kick off a 3-0 run that included another Buchanan kill.

Belcher missed a pancake to keep the run alive, but a service error from the Panthers and another point made Chelsea’s lead 5-1 to begin the third.

Kylee Hester then led a 4-0 run from the service line to make it a 5-4 game, but Willett led a 4-0 run of her own for the Hornets capped by a Kaleigh Hall kill to take the lead to 9-4.

Pelham drew close once again to make the score 11-8 before Chelsea went on a 4-1 run to put the lead even further out of reach at 15-9.

A couple of points later, the Panthers cut the deficit to four once again, making the score 16-12, but the Hornets then regained the serve, which opened the door for Buchanan to take over.

She won the next four points off her arm to take the lead to 21-12, and Willett followed that with an ace. Soon enough, Chelsea had gone on a 6-1 run to get on match point with a 24-12 lead.

A service error briefly held up the celebrations, but Hall got the match-winning kill off the side out to seal the 25-13 third-set win, the sweep of Pelham and a regional championship.

The Panthers will face Jasper in the Elite Eight on Tuesday, Oct. 29 at 9 a.m. at the Birmingham CrossPlex. If they win, they will play in the Final Four that same day at 4 p.m.