Nancy Filer spoke with pride about what her team had done.

No, Panther Valley did not win Thursday night.But Filer and the Panthers had little to hang their heads about.Though Panther Valley's season came to an end with a 25-21, 25-17, 21-25, 25-21 loss to New Hope Solebury in a PIAA Class AA sub-regional contest, Filer couldn't help but smile when thinking about what the team had accomplished this year."I loved the ride," Filer said. "The girls gave us a nice ride. Panther Valley has volleyball fever, and we might be finished for this moment, but there's the next one coming."My seniors played hard; they didn't want it to end. Somedays, you just don't have more points than the other team."Despite a quick turnaround from Tuesday's triumph in the District 11 championship game, the Panthers (17-3) played with plenty of energy.But the District 1 champion Lions were able to match that intensity.New Hope roared out to a 2-0 lead, highlighted by a stirring comeback from a 15-11 deficit in the second game.Momentum appeared to stay with the Lions, who looked set to sweep the match with a 21-16 lead in the third game.Then Panther Valley senior Danielle Hudicka, who dished out 11 assists while recording 15 service points (four aces) and six digs in the match, stepped to the service line and closed out game three, 25-21, a moment that nearly changed the dynamic of the match."That was a spark," Filer commented, "and it lasted for a while."A back-and-forth ensued in the fourth game, as the teams combined for seven ties.With the Panthers up 16-15, New Hope forced the seventh and final tie of the game before freshman Chloe Lykken served six straight points to put the Lions up 22-16.Panther Valley cut it to 22-21 before New Hope put it away when another underclassman, sophomore Gwen Vogelsang, served out the final points of the match."I think we stayed in system," said Lions' head coach Roy Watson. "They were bump-setting a lot, which slows down their offense, and we were able to pull back a little bit."With the match potentially slipping away after the third game, Watson reminded his team to stay the course."We could have given it up after that big comeback in the third, but we just continued to play games to five," he said. "We don't look at the score. We're focused on getting our game to five, doing our five points, and then resetting."And I think it's effective. They showed that, under pressure, that's a really good way for them to perform, and they did and they stepped up. And we're so young; my back row is three freshmen deep."Panther Valley is solid. They gave us much more than we could handle at times."Like New Hope, Panther Valley has a young core that should keep it in contention for the foreseeable future.Though the Panthers will lose just two seniors, Chloe Markovich and Hudicka, Filer acknowledged the duo will be hard to replace."I don't know if you ever could replace my two seniors," she said. "They have such a nice personality on the court; they're very easy to blend with, but we are young. So I don't know. Time will tell."But it's going to be hard to replace the seniors because they were team players and they always had support for the girls. So we'll see what it is. One day at a time."PANTHER VALLEY NUMBERS ... Sophomore Emilee Kwaak had nine kills, five service points and five digs for Panther Valley. Junior Christina Dacey recorded seven assists, four kills and two blocks to go along with five service points while Sydney Clouser, also a junior, had 16 digs and five service points.Sophomore Rachelle Filer tallied six blocks and five kills and freshman Jenna Dubosky contributed five blocks, four kills and four digs.STAT LINE… Senior Caleigh Roach had 32 digs and two aces for New Hope, which had 39 kills and 10 blocks as a team. Freshman Katie Costello contributed 10 kills, while junior Rachel McMahon tallied seven kills and six aces.BRING YOUR FRIENDS… Panther Valley had a vocal student section throughout the match, one that hung on every point. "Our girls love playing with that," Filer said of the energy in the gym. "They did fine with that."