Entering the playoffs, it’s important for a team to be playing its best volleyball of the season.

On Monday, in the quarterfinals of the Schuylkill League tournament, Panther Valley showed that it is indeed firing on all cylinders.

The Panthers (13-3) made quick work of Williams Valley in three games (25-12, 25-8 and 25-11) to advance to the semifinals.

“I was just telling the girls the other day that we lost two all-state players, and some other really good girls from a season ago, and I just wanted to let them know how proud of them I was because we had to rebuild ourselves, and the girls have done a great job of that,” said Panther Valley head coach Emilie Baker.

“Going into the postseason, you want to be playing at the top of your game, and we’re playing well right now. There’s always stuff that we need to work on, but this was a nice win for us as we move on.”

Coming into the match, Baker thought her team would have some success on the offensive end. From the onset, her squad proved her correct.

The PV offense got off to hot starts in each of its three games, swaying momentum early, which never let the Vikettes (11-8) get into the match.

“We thought we would see a lot of free balls coming over, but you truly don’t know until the match starts, because we haven’t seen Williams Valley at all,” said Baker. “So, I just told the girls early we have to come out with energy and be ready to move and attack.

“We were able to do that. We ran our offense efficiently, and we also did a nice job on the defensive side of the ball as well.”

The Panthers’ defense was stingy, giving up a total of 31 points on the night - an average of just 10.3 points per game.

Alexis Cooper, who has been one of the anchors for the Panther Valley defense all season, led the team with five digs against the Vikettes.

“This is the league playoffs, and we knew in order to move on we had to come out here and get the win,” said Cooper. “From the beginning, we were really focused and pushed hard.

“I think some big keys for us were keeping our serves in and our team communication; we did that well, and then defensively we were able to get good passes up front to set up our hitters, who were able to stick it tonight and attack.”

LEADERS … For the Panthers, Erika Dubosky led the way on the offensive end with 14 kills. Madison Heckman had 14 assists and three aces, while Natalie White helped out with four kills and four aces.

PLAYING WELL … The Panthers are playing solid ball as they try to survive and advance in the Schuylkill League playoffs. PV has won nine out of its last 10 matches.

NEXT UP … Panther Valley will now take on Pottsville in the Schuylkill League semifinals Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Martz Hall.