Saint Jo
The Saint Jo Lady Panthers had to fight for everything in their opening area round playoff match against Sulphur Bluff on Thursday night.
The Lady Panthers pulled out the five-set win against the Lady Bears while having to win the final two sets of the match, including a razor sharp fifth set.
Returning almost all of the team that made it to the regional finals last year, Saint Jo was riding a 10-game win streak and only dropped one set during district play heading into this week.
With a bye game for the bi-district round, Coach Kelly Skidmore knew she needed to get her team some tough competition to prepare them for what was ahead.
That came with not one, but two warm-up matches against top 10 state-ranked teams in 2A Detroit and 1A Graford.
The Lady Panthers lost both matches against the teams, but showed some good things by losing 3-1 against the 2A team and a close 3-2 match against the fellow 1A team.
Most people would have picked Saint Jo as the favorites in the match, but Sulphur Bluff was not a pushover. It was a similar story last year in the same round of the playoffs when the two teams met and the Lady Bears pushed the Lady Panthers to five sets in that match as well before losing.
With 23 wins on the season and only two district losses against the district champion, the Lady Bears were ready to compete.
They showed that in set one by winning a competitive set 25-21 to take the early lead. The Lady Panthers came back to win set two in commanding fashion in what would be the most lopsided set of the match 25-17.
The third set saw Sulphur Bluff take control and win another competitive set 25-21 to take the lead 2-1.
Saint Jo came back to rebound in set four and win 25-19 to tie the match up and force a fifth and final set.
Having just played a five-set match a couple of days earlier and not coming out on the winning side, the Lady Panthers knew they had experience in the winner-take-all, shorter framed set.
It went down to the wire as neither team could build any kind of lead that could make their side take a breath of relief.
In the end, it came down to Saint Jo pulling ahead right at the end to win 15-13 and the match 3-2.

Nocona
The Nocona Lady Indians got their first big scare in almost a month while pulling out a five-set win against Como-Pickton on Thursday night in the area round of the playoffs.
The Lady Indians won the back-and-forth match against the Lady Eagles 3-2, with their wins coming relatively drama free but the losses by the skin of their teeth.
Nocona was coming into the match with a lot of confidence, riding a 17-game win streak and not having lost a set in its last seven matches.
However, Como-Pickton came into the match as not a normal second seed. The Lady Eagles had 28 wins on the season and lost to North Hopkins in a play-in for the district title as its only blemishes during district play.
The first set went the Lady Indians way as they won not dominantly, but comfortably 25-17 which is about what the team is used to winning by against good teams this season.
However, the next set went down to the wire and into extra-points. In the end it was Como-Pickton that won the set 27-25 to tie the score up at 1-1.
The third set then ended with the same result as set one. Nocona controlled the set and won comfortably 25-17 to take a 2-1 lead.
Then the fourth set was another nail biter that went down the wire and was won by the smallest margin. Again, it was the Lady Eagles that edged it out 25-23 to tie the score up at 2-2 and force a fifth and final set.
With it only being played to 15 instead of 25, the fifth set always carries with it a different kind of energy compared to every other set in a match. A team coming in with all the momentum in the world can be stifled by the pressure the winner-take-all set brings out, with every lead feeling magnified since there are fewer points for a come-back possibility.
Still, like the other odd numbered sets before, Nocona took control early and won with little drama besides relief with the score 15-7 and 3-2.

Prairie Valley
The Prairie Valley Lady Bulldogs won their bi-district playoff match on Tuesday night against Meridian in comfortable fashion.
The Lady Bulldogs won in straight sets against the Lady Yellowjackets 3-0 to keep their season going for one more game.
Prairie Valley came in feeling confident after getting a big straight-sets win against Forestburg in the play-in match that earned them the district’s second seed.
That set them up against a Meridian team that came in with only eight wins on the season and two district wins. With the Lady Bulldogs playing at their best right now, they showed the difference.
The set scores were all around the same type of set 25-17, 25-18 and 25-16.
The team had 19 service aces with Kasi Phillips leading the way with seven. Natalee Young had a team high seven kills, Kai Cearley led the team with seven assists and Kennedy Stone picking up 13 digs, it was a total team effort.
Coach Seth Stephens thought his team played well overall and had little to complain about besides nitpicks.

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