PREP VOLLEYBALL: Panthers sweep Blue Jays, 3-0
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TRACY – Playing in front of their home crowd for the first time this season the Tracy-Milroy-Balaton Panthers put on a show for the Panther faithful. The Panthers cruised to a 3-0 victory over Central Minnesota Christian.
"I thought we played with a lot of energy," TMB coach Rick Haberman said. "The kids were really fired up. It was our first home match. They were excited to play in front of them. Our student body is always outstanding. They were excited to play at home with that energy."
It was all Tracy, all the time in the first set. The Panthers cruised to a 25-8 victory in the opening set.
Evelyn Dolan led the Panthers with three kills in the set. Cassidy Smith recorded seven assists.
The second set was more of the same, with the Panthers picking up a 25-11 victory. Sydney Lanoue recorded four kills in the set. Smith finished with five assists.
The third set started out like the previous two, with the Panthers jumping out to a commanding 8-2 lead. CMCS didn't go down without a fight. They managed to tie the game at 16, before the Panthers went on a 9-0 run to win the set 25-16.
"What I liked is we were out of sync and struggling, but we stuck together as a team and fought through it, instead of getting upset," Haberman said. "I thought we kept our compusore. Central Minnesota Christian really got scrappy. It was a good experience in that third set."
Lanoue finished the final set with seven kills. Smith recorded 10 assists.
The Panthers will be back in action today when they head to Marshall to take part in the Southwest Minnesota State University Invitational.
"We know we are going to play five excellent opponents," Haberman said. "It's a unique experience. There are 32 teams there and there isn't a bad team in there. We will have five matches of really good competition. Our goal is to be a better team than we are right now. It's a fun chance to compete and play together as team, but also a great chance to become a better team in two days."
Haberman said playing in a tournament like the one that they'll be playing in this weekend is a great early test for his team.
"It's great," Haberman said. "We love it. It's a perfect time of the season, because you can find out a lot about yourself. It's early in the year yet, so we can try and work on things that you feel you need to work on. This weekend you do find out the things you want to work on."