The Alba-Golden Lady Panthers wrapped up their pre-district schedule, dropping last Friday’s match at Rains, three sets to one.

The Lady Panthers opened their district play Tuesday versus Como-Pickton and host Fruitvale on Friday followed by another home game Tuesday, Sept. 30 against Kerens.

Despite the match loss at Rains, the Lady Panthers took the first set, and were in each of the following sets to the very end (25-23, 23-25, 21-25, 21-25).

Alba-Golden played with an expectation of success, which has been developed over the course of their short pre-district ledger. 

The Lady Panthers blocking skills have improved dramatically, as has their movement about the floor.

As with most squads, defending against the cross-court kill from the left wing remains a challenge.

As they enter district play, the most worrying aspect of the Lady Panthers’ game appears to be service errors.

In a match decided by a cumulative eight scores, Alba-Golden gifted Rains ten points on service errors.  

Of particular mention through the first part of the season are the kill-shot ability of Sadie Wright, the remarkably consistent setting of Jayla Sitar and the court presence of Avery Stevenson.

The whole team has in fact built a strong unit cohesion with contributions coming from each team member. 

The district run should feature well-played volleyball with an eye on the district title.