The Alba-Golden Lady Panthers took three sets to defeat the visiting Lady Trojans of Cumby last Tuesday, 25-18, 25-19, 25-17.

Cumby scored three times before handing the ball to Kalli Trimble to serve. An assist from Trimble to Bailee Bishop swinging from the right side for a kill knotted it at three.

The next two points were won by solid Trimble serves, unreturned by the Lady Trojans.

Bishop continued to score with a winner to go up 9-5 and a kill to break another tie and take a 12-11 lead, which Alba-Golden did not relinquish again in the set.

Trimble, Lainey Teel and Alexis Wilmut scored on nice hits, taking advantage of steady setting by Trimble and Erin Langston.

Alyssa Murdock helped seal it with three consecutive knuckleball serves that Cumby could not get back across.

After splitting the next set’s opening points, a long rally ensued, with several third-hit free-balls available, of which the Lady Panthers finally took advantage, and Teel ended it with a kill.

Teel established herself in the middle of the court. She scored an emphatic point to make it 4-1, with a swinging hit off a Lady Trojan ball hit just over the net and hit another winner to break serve and lead it 5-4. She then served three times, with two of them not returnable by Cumby, and was even retrieving balls on the back row.

Hailey Crutchfield netted a block to make it 10-7, then slammed a soft return with authority after four straight Langston serves.

After opening an 18-9 margin, some small errors added up quickly and the gap closed to 19-15 before Trimble notched three serves that went over the net once. A couple more errors kept the set alive, but a winner by Lainey Wright ended the leaking and the set.

Teel and Crutchfield continued to give the Lady Trojans more than they could handle up front, but the third set remained close at 10-9, when Teel hit a winner to hand the ball to Wilmut, who proceed to send three serves over that were never reciprocated, and Alba-Golden started to pull away.

Some solid serving from Langston and Wright helped by a couple well-placed balls by Trimble and some incredibly agile play at the net from Crutchfield ultimately put Cumby away.

After falling to North Hopkins Friday, the Lady Panthers concluded the regular season Tuesday against Fruitvale to determine the third-place playoff team.