MONTICELLO – On Monday, the Monticello Panthers extended their early season win streak with a victory over the Beacon Bulldogs. Impressive from the start, the Panthers’ performance was led by a strong string of serving, specifically from Ava Williams and Reiley Schloicka who set the tone that would extend throughout the entirety of the game. The Panthers pounced on the Bulldogs early commanding the board in the first set with a dominant 12-2 lead to eventually win the set 25-15. Head Coach Sierra Smith stated after the game, that beginning the game with a strong start has been a big point of emphasis for the team this season. Coach Smith spoke fervently about what impressed her about the way her team played from the start. “I felt like the team had a very strong start out the gate and we’ve been working on improving our starts to games. We are really good at battling back, but we’ve been working on not having to be in those positions. So, I felt like they did a better job of that today.” 

Most of the adversity that the Panthers experienced came in the second set, the only set they lost in the game, where they had an unfortunate run in with an injury when starting middle player Aissa Williams went down with what appeared to be a minor ankle injury.   She did not return for the remainder of the game as a precaution and Amyeira Andujar stepped up as her replacement. The battling back scenario the Panthers worked hard to avoid from the jump seemed to rear its familiar head in the second set. The Bulldogs found their hand at serving and moved ahead swiftly capturing an 8-1 lead before Coach Smith called a timeout to get her team to regroup. After they recentered, the Panthers displayed their resilience and refuse-to-lose attitude by making a few rallies both on offense and defense to tie the score a few times in the set. First at 16-16, then at 17-17, and lastly at 20-20. Andujar made a nice play slamming the ball at the net to give the Panthers the lead by 1, but ultimately Beacon roared back to win the set, 25-23. That was the last time the Panthers would let up.

The third and fourth sets were characterized by another great stretch of opening serves, this time by Julissa Velez and Genevieve DeSimone as well as great moments on defense and sharp passing that led to big kills. The Panthers are looking to carry this momentum into the next game and the remainder of the season.