The Miami Trace Lady Panther volleyball team welcomed rival Washington C.H. Thursday for the regular season-ending varsity match for both teams.

Washington took the match in four games, 22-25, 25-22, 25-15 and 25-10.

“We’ve just had a very fun year,” Washington head coach Doug Mace said. “The kids have worked hard and we were able to come out through the league with only one loss and overall we only have five losses.

“We’re just very happy, very excited to end the season this way and now we’ll get ready for tournament time,” Mace said. “Give Miami Trace credit. They played really hard. They’re down one of their best players (Andi Strahler with an injury). It was their senior night and their kids really wanted this match.

“They played with a lot of heart and passion and they should be proud,” Mace said. “As the match went on, especially the third and fourth games, I think our kids kind of wore them out a little bit. I think they played so hard, especially in the first couple of games, they just got a little tired and weren’t able to attack us like they were early on.”

The Lady Lions, having clinched their fifth consecutive SCOL championship Tuesday against London, finish the 2008 SCOL slate at 11-1. They are now 17-5 overall. The Lady Lions open Sectional tournament play with a home game Wednesday against New Lexington at 6 p.m.

“When we’re moving and in our (correct) positions on the floor, we can pass the ball fairly well,” Mace said. “It’s getting the kids to keep moving during the play, instead of standing and watching. Tonight we missed several serves, so we’re going to go back and work on that. With our type of team, we rely a lot on our serving and I thought that kind of let us down a little bit tonight.”

“We came out with a lot of momentum tonight,” Miami Trace head coach Jennifer Barton said. “The girls were playing as a team; they were communicating. They were moving on offense a little bit quicker. In the third and fourth games, we started off with some serve-receive errors that put us behind in the beginning (of those games).

“The girls didn’t have the momentum to finish this evening,” Barton said. “In the third and fourth games, some serve-receive errors, some hitting errors, some serving errors, as well, all played a factor.”

Barton spoke of her two seniors, Jessica Persinger and Shannon Horn.

“Jessica and Shannon stepped up this year as team captains,” Barton said. “They did an excellent job communicating with the girls. We had six first-year varsity players on our team and Jessica and Shannon helped welcome them and bring the team together and we’ll certainly miss them next year.”

Stats were not available for the Lady Lions, but they were for the Lady Panthers.

For Miami Trace, Shawnie Pendelton had 10 points; Alyssa Wright had 11 points and six kills; Jessica Persinger had nine points and four kills; Rachel Smith had nine points; Kerissa Hicks had four kills and Shannon Horn had five kills.

Miami Trace is now 8-12 overall, 6-6 in the SCOL. The Lady Panthers host Circleville in the opening round of the Sectional tournament Wednesday at 6 p.m.

The Lady Panthers lost a match to Circleville earlier in the season, three games to one.

“We need to keep working on our serve-receive,” Barton said. “And some spot serving. I think our offense is coming together very well. We’ve got some things to work on defensively. Overall, we’ll just work the whole offense and defense, serve-receive and serving to prepare for our tournament game Wednesday.”

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