Barbara Lawlor

Nederland

The Nederland High School girls' volleyball team celebrated their first win of the season last Thursday, October 13, 2016, when they hosted Denver Academy.

After coming close many times throughout the season, the Panthers broke through the wall and beat DA 3-1 in a four-game match in front of their home town fans.

The girls began the match with a hard-fought win, as Sofie Anderson and her fast torpedo serve put a bunch of points on the scoreboard after a 12-12 tie. With momentum on their side, the Panthers aided server Hattie Bakke in continuing the point streak, and the Panthers marched ahead 25-19.

With a slow start in the second game the Panthers were soon down 7-13, struggling to find their rhythm again. They ended up letting mistakes overcome their drive and were not able to overtake DA, losing 25-18 in the second game.

Determined to not get down, the Ned girls came onto the floor with a win in their eyes and began to attack, maintaining a lead throughout the game, all the way to the end.  Sofie Anderson put everything she had behind her bullseye serves and pushed the Panthers ahead all the way to the 25-14 win.

With a 2-1 game situation, the girls knew that if they were going to break their team’s losing streak, now was the time. It was back and forth until Brie Sineni began pounding the ball over the net to bring the Panthers ahead 10-9. If the Ned girls wanted to win the game, they had to man that lead. Karen Sorokach stood tall at the net and was particularly effective in the latter part of the game. Anderson followed her with a hard drive and when the Panthers pushed to a 24-17 lead, it seemed as if they had the game all wrapped up.

Gilpin fans watched in horror as the girls became rattled and began making mistakes, with Denver Academy creeping up to the Panthers lead.  At 24-22, the Ned girls put a stop to DA's surge to win the game 15-22 and the match, 3-1.

The girls celebrated the win as they headed to the lockers and exchanged their comments on the game and their first win.

The home game, and last game of the season, will be on Friday, October 21, 2016 against Heritage Christian beginning at 5 p.m.