Nativity’s volleyball team can best be described in three words - persistent, relentless and resilient.

Panther Valley found that to be true on Tuesday evening.

Each time the Panthers seemed to deliver a knockout punch, the Golden Girls wouldn’t fold. Nativity never bent, kept their poise, and eventually won this Schuylkill League showdown.

After PV took the opening game, the Golden Girls regrouped and grabbed the next two sets. The Panthers pulled out the fourth game to force a deciding set, but Nativity took control and came away with a 12-25, 25-20, 25-21, 21-25, 15-8 triumph.

“This is without a doubt one of the toughest gyms to play in,” said Jen Daubert, the long-time successful coach of the Golden Girls.

“We dug ourselves a hole. Panther Valley is a really, really good team. They do things fundamentally well.”

Things went well for the Panthers in the opener.

Paced by a pair of aces from junior server Maddison Maynard, the first game was all Black and Gold from the start. Sophomore Natalie Vermillion also pumped home an ace to build a commanding 20-9 lead and finished off the set moments later.

But just like summer transitioning into fall, things started to take a change. Nativity snapped itself out of its funk, and played much better in the second set. The Golden Girls took leads of 10-6, 14-9 and 17-12.

PV did close the gap to 22-18 and 24-20, but couldn’t get over the hump.

“We have a bad habit, we get (too) comfortable with ourselves,” said Panther Valley mentor Emilie Baker. “We get too confident, which isn’t a bad thing … but we fail to (carry) that over and get it to the next level.”

Nativity gained momentum after its second-set victory and proceeded to hand the Panthers another loss, 25-21, in the third game. The Golden Girls were dealing hard at the net with 5-10 sophomore Julianna Carlson and 6-1 junior Arieanna Sherman. They were precision-like in the set strategy, also turning to their confident outside hitter Sara Spolski.

Panther Valley, however, had some gas left in the tank and showed it in the fourth game. After Nativity looked like it would put the match away, taking an 18-13 lead, the Panthers rallied and tied the score on a Vermillion kill. Then, with Mikayla Yuricheck in serve and turning to feisty Riley McArdle, the Panthers forced errors to win the set and force a sudden-death fifth game.

The race to 15 points was knotted at 4-4 before the Golden Girls asserted themselves with a string of five straight points. Spolski served an ace, and Nativity received a huge kill from Carlson.

PV trimmed the deficit to 10-7, but with junior Chloe Motto serving, the visitors sprung to a 14-8 lead. A kill by Sherman finished the set and the match.

“Once we started to make (smart) passes, we were able to run our offense,” Daubert said. “I felt once we cleaned up our serving stuff, then we started to play much better.”

DOWN TO ONE … Baker said losing her two setters with injuries put her in a bind to try and play a different style. But she didn’t blame the loss on that. “No excuses, they’re an excellent team.”

NUMBERS, NUMBERS ... The Panthers served up 10 aces in the match, led by Morgan Orsulak’s three and McArdle’s two. McArdle registered a team-high 15 kills, while Vermillion finished with nine. Orsulak also contributed 24 assists and three digs. McArdle added seven digs and Vermillion had six.

SPLIT CITY … Panther Valley won the JV contest, sweeping both sets.

BY THE RECORDS … Nativity sits atop the league standings with a perfect 5-0 mark. The Golden Girls are 7-2 overall, with one of those wins coming against Holy Redeemer - one of the top teams in the area. Panther Valley dropped to 8-2 and suffered its first league loss.