SHILLINGTON – It was an effort Nancy Filer had come to expect from her team.

The same heart. The same hustle. The same determination.

It was something Filer could say of all 23 of Panther Valley’s matches this season, including a 25-11, 25-23, 25-17 loss to Delone Catholic in the PIAA Class 2A quarterfinals.

“They’re fighters,” said the Panthers’ head coach. “They didn’t want to stop. They did fight, and they didn’t want to stop.”

Panther Valley (21-2) showed its resolve Saturday, rallying in the second set and jumping out to a 7-3 lead with Jenna Dubosky, who had six service points and three aces, at the service line. The junior finished with 15 assists, eight kills and three digs.

“Jenna, she got really hot from the service line early on,” said Squires head coach Jason Leppo. “That was kind of one of the things coming in that we said, ‘Hey, we want to make sure that we’re not trying to be too perfect when she’s serving, because it’s such a great serve, and that we wanted to just be able to get the ball up, and not give them easy points.’

“And we gave them a bunch of easy points there, and allowed them to get out to a lead. So especially when we had so much momentum from Game 1, if you can get up 2-0 at this time of year, that’s a huge advantage, and huge hole for a team to dig out of. So we were able to fight back, and scrap that game out.”

Panther Valley held a lead of 20-19 in the second before the Squires (23-3) went ahead 23-22 and held on to close out the set for a 2-0 lead to take control of the match.

“We were able to kind of find ourselves, and settle in just in the nick of time, because all of a sudden if it gets to 1-1 and they steal that second game, you’re looking at an entirely different match, a whole lot of different pressure on us; it allows them to be a little more loose,” he said. “So we were definitely not our sharpest today, but that’s OK.

“That’s one of the things we talk about all the time: If you’re gonna make this run, you have to learn to win when you’re not always gonna be playing your best, or feeling your best. That’s part of making deep runs in the playoffs, things aren’t always going to go perfectly. We had one of those days today, and we were able to survive and keep going.”

Maddie Clabaugh paced the District 3 champion and 2017 state runner-up Squires with 12 kills. Brooke Lawyer (seven kills) and Emily Miller (six kills) also contributed to the attack. Molly Raville was stellar setting up the offense, tallying 25 assists.

Delone Catholic also got big performances on defense from Lauren Trummer and Hannah Wells, who recorded 25 and 12 digs, respectively.

Delone Catholic snapped a 5-5 tie with an 11-0 run in the first set to take a 1-0 lead and put the Panthers in an early hole.

“Panther Valley, they made a ton of plays defensively,” said Leppo. “They don’t really quit on many balls. They scrap a lot of things out. There were a couple of times where I really thought the ball was going to be down, and someone is flying around throwing an arm up (to save it).

“And that’s what you expect from a team of their caliber, and with the season that they’ve had. They’ve had a heck of a season. They have a couple of really, really good athletic kids. So you expect teams at this level to really fight, really compete, and we were able to, again, maybe not play our best, but able to match what they were doing.”

Sophomore Erika Dubosky had 10 kills, five digs, two assists and one block for the Panthers, while junior Olivia Dacey added seven digs and six kills. Sarah Zabroski dished out 10 assists and tallied three digs.

RELOAD … Much of this year’s Panther Valley team, which captured a Schuylkill League title and a third straight District 11 crown, will return next fall.

Filer knows it will be tough to replace Zabroski, Emilee Kwaak and Rachelle Filer, the seniors in Panther Valley’s starting rotation, but knows the foundation is there for another deep postseason run. “They’ll be back next year. They are strong. There are amazing girls coming back. The nucleus is there. Every girl that will fill in a spot will be there next year. They’ll be back,” the coach said.

MOVING ON … Delone Catholic will face District 2 champion Holy Redeemer Tuesday in the semifinals.