The way the Marian volleyball team came out of the blocks on Tuesday may have rattled most teams.

Not Panther Valley!

There was no way a veteran Panther team was going to fold their tent, especially considering how intense the rivalry is between the two schools.

After dropping the opening set, Panther Valley stormed back for a 22-25, 25-16, 25-15, 25-21 Schuylkill League victory.

After an eye-opening first set performance by Marian, the Panthers responded the way a champion responds.

“There really wasn’t a need to panic,” said Panther Valley coach Emilie Baker. “We (coaches) do stress that we need to start a little faster, but no… there wasn’t any panic.”

All it took for Panther Valley was a little lift from the usual suspects, and a sudden emergence from Olivia Dacey and Natalie White. They were huge most of the night.

“Dacey is a senior and a very dependable player,” said Baker. “White hardly played last year, but she’s been working hard and she is a big blocker for us.”

Marian fell behind in the first set 7-2, but then erupted for a huge momentum change and stormed to a 19-13 lead. The Panthers rallied to tie the score at 21-21 on an Erika Dubosky kill, only to watch Marian go on a 4-1 run to claim the opening set.

“We came out high,” said Marian coach Dr. John Fallabel. “But they’re good. They’ve got big hitters, and they just methodically started to take control.”

Those hitters stormed out in the next three sets. Paced by Jenna Dubosky’s 22 kills and 16 assists, sister Erika Dubosky’s six aces, eight kills and three blocks, and Dacey’s 13 kills and nine digs the eruption was far too much for Marian to be able to handle.

“(Numbers) 11, 16 and 33 beat us,” said Fallabel of the aforementioned Panthers. “No. 22 (White) also had a really good service run.”

During the first set victory, the Fillies got strong performances from Ashlyn Klitsch, Macey Mazalusky and Alivia Karchner. However, that wasn’t enough to overcome the more talented Panthers. Karchner finished with a match-high 11 kills for Marian. Mazalusky and Klitsch had 16 and 10 digs, respectively. Tatianna Zeleniak added nine digs and three aces.

Baker knows that the target is on the backs of the Panthers.

“They’ve been winning for the past several seasons, and teams are going to play (exceptionally) hard against us,” said Baker. “Our team has to realize that, and they’ve got to be ready to play hard every game.”

RECORDS ... The win pushes the Panthers’ record to 9-1 overall and 7-1 in the league. Marian moved to 5-4 overall and 4-4 in the league.

THE BLACK HOLE … The Panther Valley student body turned it up several octaves throughout the contest, with a lot of good, clean fun.

ON SECOND THOUGHT … Panther Valley started to assert itself in the second set. It just laid a huge number on the Fillies, taking a 23-12 lead and that ignited things.

YOUTH IS GETTING SERVED … And who in the world is Cletus? The Marian volleyball team mascot, a little rubber ducky, has its own space in the locker room and goes to the player of the match. Tuesday Cletus went home with Lacey Blasko. “I told Lacey to take Cletus home and you’ll sleep better,” said Fallabel.