SECTION SORROW

SUB-SECTION SECTION 3A VOLLEYBALL: WWG 3, TMB 1

Panthers give WWG a major test, but second-seeded Chargers escape with 4-set win in sub-section showdown

TMB and WWG are the best of friends when it comes to wrestling and cross country, but it’s a different story on the volleyball court. And on Friday, the two acquaintances went toe-to-toe in Westbrook for the right to advance in the Section 3A Tournament.

The seventh-seeded Panthers gave the No. 2 Chargers a true run for their money in the second round of the tournament, but ultimately fell in four very competitive sets — 18-25, 25-20, 16-25, 24-26.

“I’m sure if you could’ve looked between the ears of every player, there wasn’t a moment that they didn’t think that they could walk away with a ‘W’,” TMB coach Heather Kamrud-Rice said after the match. “A lot of mental toughness, being the seventh seed playing the second seed and giving them a run for their money. This is a tough one.”

While the bracket says they were the “underdog,” at no point did the Panthers play like a seventh-seeded team.

“There was nothing inevitable in this game,” Kamrud-Rice said.

The night started well for the Panthers, as they opened the match with a nice 4-0 run in the first set. It wasn’t until late in the match that WWG was able to take its first lead at 18-17 on an ace by Natasha Wahl, who served 27-for-28 on the night.

Two kills by Leah Carter and one from Sydney Foster put WWG up 2117, and the Chargers allowed just one more point the rest of the way to grab that first set.

“The hardest thing about sections is, when you lose, you’re done — I think the girls just needed to get that out of our system,” WWG coach Meghann Westover said. “We’ve built our way back from being down before. We just needed to get a couple of good things to happen, and then just feed off that energy.”

TMB started hot once again in Set 2, and a kill by Elsie Knott put the Panthers up 14-7.

Knott did it again later to put the Panthers up 19-11, and kills by Melaina Ankrum and Braelynn Kirk helped TMB even the match at 1-1 with a five-point set win.

WWG turned the tables in the third set, jumping out to a 12-4 lead to force a TMB timeout. But the break did little to slow the Chargers’ roll, as they went on a 9-2 run, sparked by back-to-back kills by Foster to put them at set point. TMB didn’t go away quietly, however, as two kills by Kirk and a number of WWG hitting errors brought the Panthers to within 24-16, but an errant Panther serve put the nail in the Set 3 coffin.

“WWG had 24 points — I still thought we had a shot,” said Kamrud-Rice. “This group of girls, I would never underestimate them. I think that they were always right there. There was never a time in my mind that we thought we might not win it. Our girls know we can come back from a deficit. I told them, ‘As soon as you start thinking it’s the end, then it really will be.’ You just have to think, the next point is going to be our run.”

Although Friday’s match pitted a seventh-seeded team against a No. 2 team, Westover knew what her team was getting into.

“We don’t see TMB much anymore like we used to, but they’re coming from the (Camden) South, and that section is insane,” Westover said. “We know a lot of good teams come out of there. Just because of their seed coming in, it doesn’t mean they aren’t qualified —they definitely showed up and gave us a run for our money.”

Throughout the match, the Chargers were able to force their will at the net, led by hitters who came at TMB from all different directions. The one-two-three hitting attack of Carlie Ross (14 kills), Foster (12) and Carter (10) was just enough against an improved Panther blocking corps to shut down any potential gamechanging TMB runs.

“It took us a little bit to find them, but once we figured it out, once we found them, the girls were able to do a fantastic job up front,” Kamrud-Rice said. “Their hitters were doing a really good job of mixing things up — they were keeping us running, keeping us guessing.”

In Set 4, the Chargers broke a 7-7 tie with an 8-2 run, but TMB came back and pulled to within 19-18 with a kill and an ace serve by Allie Adams and another Kirk kill. That forced a WWG timeout, but the Panthers would eventually take their second lead since 7-5 on a block by Bella Martinez and a kill from Ankrum.

A TMB service error tied it at 24, but kills by Foster and Wahl ended the Panthers’ hopes of forcing a fifth set and advancing to the section quarterfinals.

“We kept making runs — we definitely did not hand this one over,” Kamrud-Rice said.

Kamrud-Rice said the team made leaps and bounds from its first match against Red Rock Central back in August.

“I’m so proud of how they pulled together as a team,” she said. “They all got more aggressive, got more accurate, smarter — they all started really pulling together as teammates.”

(TMB stats for the sub-section match were not made available).