The Alberton girls started last week’s volleyball play with a match against Drummond. They ended up losing on Tuesday night, but came back strong on Friday to beat Victor.

The girls had played against Drummond before in tournament play and so it was a familiar team for the girls. On Tuesday, they lost once again to the team, 3-0, going 25-8, 25-5 and 25-14.

Coach Rachel Clevenger said that the girls had so many little mistakes that they ended up having a hard time keeping up with Drummond on the court.

“Our passing was really bad. We had a lot of passing errors and hardly any attacks. We struggled,” Clevenger said.

Clevenger said that at times during the game they were playing well, but would find themselves in a slump that they couldn’t get out of.

“Sometimes we play really well, but we can’t seem to maintain it,” Clevenger said. “At times, we were playing Drummond pretty competitively. At a couple of times, the scores were closer, but Drummond just pulled away from us.”

At Drummond, Dani Hanley had three of Alberton’s two kills. Kayla Webb had the only block for the Lady Panthers and Jenna Rausch nabbed five digs for the team. Christie Rimmer and Andi Clark each set one assist for the Lady Panthers and Rausch served two aces.

After losing to Drummond, the girls readied themselves to play Victor at home on Friday night. This time around, the girls scored a win and it was the first conference win of the season. The girls won the match 3-1, going 25-18, 25-19, 22-25 and 25-18 during the games.

Clevenger said that it was a pretty exciting match for the team.

“The girls came out really excited and our serving was really good,” Clevenger said. “Our defense also did really well.”

Alberton nabbed a total of 24 digs in the match. Clevenger said that the girls set it up to where they had a few more attacks that what they usually do.

“Things just clicked,” Clevenger said.

Clevenger said that the first time the girls played Victor, they were beat pretty easily. She mentioned that Victor was missing one girl and that the team had changed their lineup.

“They looked a bit confused on where they were supposed to be,” Clevenger said, noting that it worked well for them. “The girls were pretty excited.”

During the third game, the Panthers failed to finish the match and ended up clenching victory in the fourth game. Clevenger said that the girls played really hard in the first two games.

“You could tell they were getting tired,” Clevenger said. “They had played pretty hard up until that point. It was something new for them to experience. They had to focus and continue to be on their toes to pull it out.”

Against Victor, Rausch has six kills for the Panthers and one block. Webb and Clark also had a block. Rimmer had seven digs and set all 11 of Alberton’s assists. Mariah Turnbull served seven aces during the match.

This week, the team has a full slate of matches. On Oct. 14, they play Lincoln in an away game. The Panthers also have another game against Drummond on Saturday also away.