The Saint Jo Lady Panthers secured their third straight trip to the regional tournament on Tuesday with an easy win against Woodson.
The Lady Panthers won in straight sets 3-0 against the Cowgirls as they moved on to the next phase in their plan.
Saint Jo came into the match as favorites, with expectations to get back to the regional tournament before the season even started.
Woodson had some good front court players and had picked up steam during district play to win its district. That didn’t mean the Cowgirls didn’t struggle through its first two playoff matches, taking Richland Springs and Crowell to five sets in their victory.
Also, the teams played earlier in the season during a tournament and the Lady Panthers won 2-0. The fact it was more than two months ago indicated little besides both teams knowing what the other brought to the table.
Saint Jo had only stumbled in its previous match against Perrin-Whitt in the first set, with a lot of uncharacteristic errors.
It was important for Coach Kelly Skidmore to get her team’s mindset right to not give up anything easy since Woodson has proven itself to be feisty in its two five-set playoff wins.
The team took her words to heart and led 5-0 to cool off a hot Woodson crowd that was hoping to root its team to an upset win in a playoff run that was full of excitement so far.
Even with the Cowgirls eventually fighting back, Saint Jo was able to attack Woodson’s serve-receive and win more times at the net with its own impressive front court play.
Knowing also where to hit the ball, avoiding too many dump attacks where Woodson was ready and looking to hit it near the sidelines, also played a factor in the Lady Panthers making it look easy.
Saint Jo won 25-17 to take a 1-0 lead.
The second set proved to be the most competitive of the match. The first 10 points were even, but then the Cowgirls had a 4-1 run to open up a 12-8 lead.
The Lady Panthers battled back and quickly tied the score at 15-15 and then 20-20.
Down the stretch, Woodson had trouble landing its serves while Saint Jo made the Cowgirls work for every point. The execution led to the Lady Panthers winning the close set 25-23 as they took a 2-0 lead.
Even with the lead, it was emphasized to Saint Jo players to not give up an inch since Woodson had shown it could take a mile. While the Cowgirls had not come back from 2-0 in the previous two matches, the fact both went five sets and they would need to do it again if they wanted a chance to win meant the Lady Panthers could not take a breath.
With that in mind, Saint Jo started set three and quickly got out to a 5-0 lead thanks to a string of good serves. That seemed to put Woodson’s energy down, even as the Cowgirls clawed back to within one point relatively quickly 8-7.
Then the Lady Panthers went on a 7-3 run to open their lead to 15-10 and there was no fight left for Woodson. Saint Jo’s lead continued to grow as the end of the match proved near.
The Lady Panthers won the set easily 25-14 and the match 3-0.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News. For more pictures from the match, click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6870517&T=1