POTTSVILLE - Panther Valley's girls' volleyball team has a date, and it will dance to the tune of a District 11 Class 2A championship match on Tuesday evening at Martz Hall.

Avoiding punch after punch thrown by Pine Grove's youthful team, the Lady Panthers were stretched to the limit before putting away the Cardinals in a fifth and final set for a 25-22, 20-25, 25-19, 23-25, 15-8 victory.It was a white-knuckler throughout a most competitive five sets of play. It left Panther Valley's head coach Nancy Filer jubilant but drained."Everybody had a slice of the pizza," she laughed dishing out plaudits from the top of her lineup to the unassuming reserves. "Everybody did a little extra to help out. The servers came through; our seniors came through, hitting and blocking…"Without a doubt one of the top stars was freshman Jenna Dubosky. Twice during the evening she stepped up with the pressure mounting on the Panthers. The nerves of steel rookie came up huge in set three, after the teams had split the first two sets.Dubosky dished up eight straight service points including an ace, lifting her team out of a danger zone as the Cardinals were riding a crest of momentum following their set two victory and seemed focused and poised enough to conjure up a second win.Libero Sydney Clouser also played a huge role in the third set victory for the Panthers, igniting a fire for her side."She was just fantastic," said Filer. "The game she played… all over the floor diving and digging. What more can I ask for."With the Panthers trailing 12-4, Clouser reeled off a pair of aces en route to adding five service points that cut the lead to 12-9. After Pine Grove's Gabby Brown interrupted the run with a kill, Dubosky rotated to the service line and brewed up a hot streak lifting her team to a 17-13 lead."That was such a big run for us," said Filer. "Jenna just took control."Before the Cardinals regrouped, the Panthers were sinking their teeth into a 25-19 win and a 2-1 edge in the match.Things were far from settled, however, as the Cardinals kept the pressure on thanks to Brown who would rattle off 29 kills on the night and teamed with Chloe Readinger who chalked up 17 kills. The attack enabled their team to claim the fourth set, 25-23.The Panthers fell behind 3-0 and 7-5, but never wavered. In dramatic fashion, PV asserted itself and came to life when Dubosky went to the serve line.Wham! Bam! Dubosky didn't forfeit the serve until she sent her team up with a commanding 12-7 lead. A kill from Christina Dacey came up big for the 14th point in the set and an error by the Cardinals ended the thriller.MOJO ... Coach Filer said when her team gets its mojo going they are tough to stop.SHOOTING STARS ... Rachelle Filer, the daughter of the coach, was clutch all night long contributing eight blocks and 11 kills. Danielle Hudicka picked up 15 service points and five kills, while Chloe Markovich and Sarah Markovich both had nine service points.