Volley for the Cure: EHS Tigers defeat Panthers 2-1, raise awareness for breast cancer
EDWARDSVILLE – On the night of their annual Volley for a Cure match, the Edwardsville Tigers girls’ volleyball team pushed passed the O’Fallon Panthers to victory after three grueling sets (20-25, 25-21, 25-15) on Tuesday night.
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“We were a little out of system there for the first half of the match,” Edwardsville head coach Jami Parker said, “They made quite a few errors and weren’t as aggressive as they usual, but I was proud of them. This is a tough match. O’Fallon had a great crowd here, it was a rowdy gym and the girls just settled in and played their game.”
The crowd inside Lucco-Jackson Gymnasium was a sea of pink as the players and coaches recognized those who have survived or lost their battles with breast cancer. In the yearly tradition, the teams honored those who are currently fighting or have survived their battles with pink roses and an acknowledgement in front of the crowd. A moment of silence was taken before the night’s playing of the National Anthem to remember those whose lives were lost due to the disease.
After the special pregame ceremony, the match was finally underway. The Panthers immediately took command in the first set, racking up a quick lead and maintaining it throughout. As their score pushed into the 20’s while the Tigers were stuck in the early teens, something had to be done. A shift in momentum occurred and Edwardsville ended pushing their score to 20. Unfortunately, it was too late and the Panthers took the first set with a score of 25-20.
In set two, the speed and drive that the Edwardsville Tigers are known for returned with a vengeance and kept their team on top. At one point, Edwardsville even held an 8-point lead over O’Fallon. Like the predator who shares their name, the Panthers snuck up on the Tigers and came back to narrow the point margin to only two. Inevitably, the Tigers persisted and took the lead to win the second with a score of 25-21.
In what is considered the scrappiest set of all, it was do or die for both teams. Both the Tigers and Panthers put everything out on the line to ensure that they would be victorious. With scrappiness comes some unfortunate mistakes on both the players’ and the officials’ parts. Some interesting calls were made in the third that could have changed the outcome of the game, including a call to redo a serve. Two referees disagreed on a call and couldn’t come to a collective decision other than to redo the serve.
Inevitably, the Edwardsville Tigers pushed past their opponents from O’Fallon and took the victory after completing the third set with a score of 25-15.
“That was a key call in the match,” Parker said. “Both teams had a lot of energy going into it and that replay was important.”
Edwardsville extends their record to 15-3 while the Panthers add another loss to make their record 21-5. The Tigers will travel to Belleville East to face the Lancers on Thursday.
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