The Saint Jo Lady Panthers got their biggest test of the season in their area win against Sulphur Bluff on Thursday night.
The Lady Panthers won a five-set thriller they had to come back from in the last two sets.
Saint Jo came into the match confident, but the young team was coming off losses against Poolville and Benjamin in the warm-up games after not facing much adversity the last month of the season.
The Lady Bears gave Saint Jo some adversity in the first set, winning the most competitive set of the match 25-22 to take the early lead. The Lady Panthers came right back and won the second set with little drama in a one-sided set 25-15 to tie the match up at 1-1.
The momentum switched back to Sulphur Bluff though as the Lady Bears won the third set 25-19 to take the lead 2-1 and was one set away from pulling the upset.
Saint Jo dug deep and won the fourth set in controlling fashion 25-17 to tie the match up and send it to a winner-take-all fifth set.
Played to only 15 points, any lead can feel that much more with less points to work. Momentum does not always carry over for that reason with the stakes felt the highest.
Luckily for the Lady Panthers, that momentum carried over from the fourth set. Saint Jo won going away with it 15-6, winning the match 3-2.
Aubrey Morman led the team with 11 kills and four blocks. Payzlie Cervantes was right behind with nine kills while collecting 20 digs.
Kayden Skidmore had a team high 20 assists and four service aces. Libero Taylor Patrick had a team high 22 digs.

Nocona
The Nocona Lady Indians won their area playoff game against North Hopkins Sulphur Springs on Friday night.
The Lady Indians won in straight sets, though the Lady Panthers did not make it easy the first two sets.
Nocona came into the match fresh off a win in the bi-district round against Tioga and made it look easy with the win in straight sets. Riding a 14 game win-streak, the Lady Indians came into the match confident.
They needed it as North Hopkins was not going to go down without a fight. The first set ended close, but Nocona closed strong winning 25-21.
The second set was even more competitive with it coming down to the final few points. The Lady Indians came out on top 25-23 to take a lead.
Having lost only one set in its previous 10 wins, there was no third set let down for Nocona. In fact, there was a bit of one for the Lady Panthers who could see the writing on the wall.
The Lady Indians won the set 25-15 and the match 3-0.
Skyler Smith led the team with 26 kills and was second with 10 assists. Megyn Meekins had 29 assists and four service aces to lead the team while adding nine kills.
Defensively, Bren Fenoglio had a team high two blocks along with Aubree Kleinhans getting 13 digs.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.