On Monday, September 15, the Paint Branch High School Girls’ Varsity Volleyball Team played an intense match against the Northwest High School Jaguars.

The Lady Panthers, unfortunately, lost to the Jaguars 3-1 in a best of five match. The Jaguars lead the first two games 25-11 and 25-8, but the Lady Panthers came back in the third game to win 26-24. However, despite their big win in the third game, the Lady Panthers lost the fourth game 25-11.

The game began at 4:30 p.m., with the Lady Panthers serving the ball first. The Jaguars had a strong defense and were able to play the ball. Every player on the Paint Branch team tried their hardest and excelled at one thing or more. PB Junior player Alexis Anderson played especially well with seven kills and eight blocks. One of the senior captains, Lori Maszkiewicz, also played a great game with one kill, three blocks, six assists, three digs, and one ace.

“I think we played well during the last two games,” stated Maszkiewicz. “We will have to continue to work on ball control.”

Paint Branch Varsity Coach Titi Huynh was on vacation during the Northwest game, so Mr. Hardy, a former volleyball coach and teacher at Paint Branch, substituted as the team’s coach.

According to Mr. Hardy, “The girls never gave up, came back to win game three and had a real strong effort.”

The girls had a strong offense as Senior Kaylyn French and Junior Danyele Bennett were able to score points with their hits. Sophomore Bianca Borda was able to get short and long balls and hardly ever let the ball touch the floor. The main setter of the year, Alyssa McMullen, made excellent sets, with eight assists, so the hitters had enough time on their hitting approach to be able to smack the ball to the other team. Jewel Stokes, libero of the team, played a solid offense as well, contributing two digs. The girls were able to continue volleys for a long period of time with the Jaguar players.

The girls, at times, lacked communication when playing defense, as confusion as to who would get the ball became points for to the opposing team. These mistakes did not hold the players back as they played their hardest throughout the entire match.

McMullen had only good things to say about the game. “We gave up some points in the first games, but this has been our best game by far because we’ve pushed harder than we ever have,” stated McMullen. “Without our coach, we were able to take responsibility for our own plays.”

The Lady Panthers have a record of two wins and one loss, but it is only the beginning of the season, so varsity has time to redeem themselves and practice to get better and win more games.