By KALA BOLTON / Staff Writer

Although the Pelham High School volleyball team came into Spain Park and swept the Jaguars 25-18, 25-19, 25-23 Sept. 15, the match didn’t go as smoothly as the Panthers had hoped.

“We didn’t win them the way that I wanted to win them,” said Pelham head coach Haven O’Quinn. “It’s not the wins and losses, it’s how we play and how we perform. Yes, it was a 3-0 win that looks good on paper, but I think all twelve of my players and the coaching staff know that we didn’t play like we wanted to tonight.”

The Jaguars (4-16) scored first and fought till the end of each set, but Pelham prevailed every time.

The Panthers (21-12) took the first set on a kill from Bradleigh Smith, assisted by Sydney Days.

Both squads remained neck-and-neck for the majority of the second set.  A block from Spain Park’s Casey Craig and Kylie Beaubien paired with a service ace fired by Brooklyn Hall tied the game at 15, but strong defense at the net by Pelham sealed the win after blocks from Days and Dana Allen along with a kill, block and tip from Alison El-Feraly.

We didn’t play our best, but I’m glad we came out with a win,” said Panthers’ Dana Allen. “We were stronger mentally. We were focused on playing hard and finishing.”

The third set proved a battle, as the squads remained tied at 23, but a service ace from Alexis Veal won the match for the Panthers.

“We didn’t let having a freshman out there shake us,” Pelham’s starting setter Sydney Days about having to pull up junior varsity player Emily Jackson to replaced their injured backup setter.

“I was so excited for her to win that game,” O’Quinn said. “She’s got nerves of steel.”

Spain Park sophomore Morgan Scott lead the team with 10 digs while sophomore Kendall Klumpp totaled seven digs. Sophomore Chandler Hump had four set assists and two service aces, and Brooklyn Hall racked up four service aces, five digs and three kills.

“I think Pelham did a great job of hitting at us with an aggressive attack 90 percent of the time, and I think we handled it well as far as defense, but we were scrapping for the ball and not sending back a consistent offense,” Jaguars head coach Paula Dill said. “That hurt us, being young hurt us, but we’ve made leaps and bounds. I think my kids hustled nonstop. That’s what we wanted, to leave it all out on the floor, and I think they did that.  “