For the third year in a row the Saint Jo Lady Panthers and the Prairie Valley Lady Bulldogs met in the regional quarterfinals.
On Thursday night in Forestburg’s gym, it was the Lady Panthers who came out on top winning 3-1.
While both teams have several new members who were not on the varsity team two years or even last year, there are still several players on both sides who have felt both the burn from losing as well as the triumph in this matchup.
Saint Jo won two years ago and Prairie Valley returned the favor last year.
Despite expanded districts for both teams, the teams seemed destined to meet again for the third straight time to settle things.
The Lady Panthers initially started well in the first set, but the Lady Bulldogs came back to tie things up at 10-10. Both sides early on were scoring heavily thanks to its serving as which led to several fast points won in a row.
As both teams settled down and their serve-receive grew more consistent, the first set stayed close. The score was tied at 20-20 when Prairie Valley went on another run at just the right time. The Lady Bulldogs won five of the next six points to win the first set 25-21.
The second set saw Saint Jo start to pull away early in the set. The Lady Panthers 6-4 lead grew to 14-6.
It looked like Saint Jo was going to get away with an easy win in set two to tie the match up, but Prairie Valley was not going to go away. Down 23-17, the Lady Bulldogs picked up momentum and won four of the next five points to cut into the lead 24-21.
The Lady Panthers were able to win the next point to win the set 25-21 and tie the match 1-1, but learned nothing was going to come easy or comfortable.
The third set saw Prairie Valley start off great, leading 11-4 early on. Saint Jo woke up and won nine of the next 10 points to come back and take the lead 13-12 and control of the set.
The lead gradually grew for the Lady Panthers to 16-14, 19-16 and 22-18. It looked like Saint Jo was going to be able to coast to the finish of the set, but again the Lady Bulldogs were not going to make it that easy.
Prairie Valley won four of the next five points to cut the lead to 23-22. It went into extra points, but the Lady Panthers came out on top to win 26-24 to take the lead in the match.
It looked early on like Saint Jo was going to carry on that positive momentum in the fourth set as it steadily grew a 9-6 lead. The Lady Bulldogs made their play again, winning the next five points to take the lead 11-9.
It would be a back and forth ride for the next 20 points as neither team got more than one or two points ahead of the other. The Lady Panthers led 21-19 as the set came down to the final few points.
It was here where Saint Jo got on another streak at just the right time. With all of the momentum and with victory within reach, the Lady Panthers closed out the set to win 25-19 and the match 3-1.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.