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The Pelham Panthers may have lost the state championship match to Spanish Fort, but their trademark fighting spirit was on full display in a match that capped off a years-long journey for the program’s 10 seniors. (Reporter Photos/Alec Etheredge)

By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

BIRMINGHAM – With the Pelham Panthers trailing 24-20 in the second set and staring down potential 2-0 deficit in the Class 6A state championship match to the Spanish Fort Toros, they refused to go down easily.

Multiple blocks from the Panthers front line along with an Aubrie Smith kill helped the team force extra points with a 24-24 tie.

While Pelham went on to lose the set 26-24 and the match 3-0 on Wednesday, Oct. 30 at the Bill Harris Arena, that fighting spirit was on display throughout the match.

It was the same fighting spirit that got the Panthers to this point, to an undefeated regular season area record, to get within a point of securing an area title, to knock off No. 2 Saraland in the first round of super regionals and to make it all the way to the state championship match.

“I’m excited we made it this far,” Pelham coach Perry Robinson said. “Always a pleasure to see your season end on the last day and all the work you put into it. This has been a fantastic group to work with. We’ve told them that a lot and still doesn’t feel like it was enough and just happy to be around them every day.”

Pelham started out the match strong as Kamryn Rouveyrol orchestrated a 4-0 run to begin the first set. Spanish Fort responded to make it a one-point game but wouldn’t tie up the set until the 10-10 mark with an ace on the back line.

The Panthers won back-to-back points to retake a 12-10 lead but Spanish Fort won three of the next four points to go up 13-12. Pelham would then immediately tie the set back up before the Toros claimed a 15-13 lead that they would never relinquish.

Spanish Fort took three straight to grow the lead to 18-15 and force a Panthers timeout, and while Pelham drew within two at 21-19, another pair of Toros points led to another stoppage with the score at 23-19.

A McMinn kill right out of the timeout followed by a Spanish Fort swing that went out made the deficit just 23-21, but after taking a timeout, the Toros won the next two points to win the first set 25-21.

Spanish Fort won the first two points of the set before Pelham tied up the score off back-to-back McMinn kills. The Panthers then went up 6-3 off a 4-0 run capped by a Kylee Hester ace.

Pelham continued to hold off the Toros over the next few points as a Londyn Wynn kill took the lead to 8-6.

However, Pelham had a service error on the next point and Spanish Fort took advantage of the miscue to go on a 5-0 run and take a 11-8 lead.

The Toros continued to build on their lead, which grew to as much as eight off an ace to make the score 18-10. A McMinn kill sparked another 3-0 run, but the Toros pulled away after that to a 22-15 lead.

The Panthers continued to fight back with their backs against the wall, with Wynn earning a solo block to cut the deficit to 23-20 and Brenna Vickery digging out a ball on the ensuing point before the team went down 24-20.

Pelham’s momentum then led to a massive run. Claire Robinson and Hester teamed for a block to force a timeout with the score at 24-22, and after a Robinson solo block and an Aubrie Smith kill off the Spanish Fort block, the score was tied at 24-24.

The Panthers couldn’t capitalize though as the Toros got a kill on the ensuing point and then won the set 26-24 to take a commanding 2-0 lead.

Spanish Fort then took control of the third set in hopes of putting away the match. Three straight points capped off by an ace made the lead 9-4 and forced a Pelham timeout.

The Panthers won three straight points to make it a two-point game, a feat that they would repeat two more times as they refused to go down without a fight. Spanish Fort responded with a 5-1 run to put itself on the cusp of victory with a 22-15 lead.

However, Pelham made one final stand. Wynn got a kill to kick off a 4-0 run capped off by a kill from Smith to draw within three at 22-19.

The Panthers sent the next shot into the net though and couldn’t regain the serve from there as the Toros won the third set 25-19 to seal the state championship.

After the match, Robinson said that the match came down to Pelham not going on enough runs to disrupt Spanish Fort as well as preventing the runs that the Toros put together to pull away.

“We just couldn’t get in a rhythm scoring points and then we had a little trouble there siding out,” Robinson said. “We saw when we could score at the service line, we could put runs on them and I think we did in every set, but we just could not continually do that consistently, and that’s a lot of praise to what Spanish Fort was doing on their side.”

The state championship match was the last time that Pelham’s 10 seniors would take the court for the Panthers, and many of them made impactful plays throughout their final high school match.

McMinn led the offense with match-high 17 kills along with nine digs and two aces. Wynn earned nine kills, eight digs and two total blocks. Hester racked up 24 assists, seven digs and three total blocks.

Rouveyrol tied for the match-high with 15 digs, Robinson and Kaliyah Arrington each had three total blocks, Caroline Hamby secured six digs and Smith earned four kills.

Reflecting on her senior season, McMinn said that the entire team was motivated to make the most of their season, especially once they got past Saraland in the opening round.

“We could tell a difference with just our practices, we were working harder because we knew that this was our end goal,” McMinn said. “We got paired up with a really hard team, the number two team in the state (Saraland) for our first round, and our goal leading up to that was just getting past that first round and then from there on out, we were just going to work our way up to here. So just making it up to the state championship game with this team that we have, I think that’s a really good accomplishment.”

Hester reflected on the bond that the seniors had formed from playing together for so many years dating back to middle school.

“It means a lot,” Hester said. “We’ve been playing together for a long time because our senior class, we’ve been playing together since middle school. And we’ve been working for this for all of our years in high school. We’ve all been on varsity for a very long time, working towards the goal, and the fact that we got here our very last year was really exciting.”

While the disappointment of the loss still stung in the moment, Robinson put the team’s achievements in perspective and hoped his team would hold its head high with the way it showcased the city of Pelham on the biggest stage.

“It’s been a lot of fun to get them to this point,” Robinson said. “Wish we could have played a little better, but when we reflect on this, we’re going to be proud of this accomplishment. We represented our community well, they represent their community well, big following for them and it’s just been so much fun to be around them.”

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