The stage was set for the Park Hill South Panthers girls volleyball team, debuting its new gym, to make quick work in its home opener on Sept. 11 against the Park Hill Trojans.
Despite Park Hill’s positive start to the opening couple of sets — leading by as many as six points in set one and two points in set two — Park Hill South came from behind to win both and were on their way to winning the match in straight sets, leading their rivals 11-5 in the third set. A Park Hill timeout did little to sway momentum as the Panthers went up 19-14.
“We’re extremely consistent,” Park Hill head coach Lindsey Hood said. “Even when we are losing in those moments, it was things we were doing to ourselves.”
Eventually, the Trojans started to click together with restored confidence in one another as they went on a 6-1 run to tie set three with a 20-20 score. Jumping out to a 25-24 lead in the set, the Trojans extended the night when South’s return from a serve set up senior Kennedy Altic for a simple spike in vacant space as the Trojans took set three 26-24.
Park Hill South’s hitters drew the attention of Park Hill as they searched for answers to the questions the Panthers posed. Among South’s heavyhitters is senior Sydni Lafasciano, who joined the 1,000 digs and 1,000 kills club recently before adding to her tally with 24 digs and 19 kills against Park Hill.
Park Hill South senior Sydni Lafasciano stretches for a point against Park Hill.
Hood saw great resiliency from her team to counter the Panthers’ efforts. “The girls did a nice job of making those gametime adjustments that they needed to,” Hood said.
Park Hill carried momentum into the fourth set, leading by as many as five points, but South kept battling and the Panthers eventually tied it up 22-22. The Trojans rose back up to send the match to a fifth set after taking set four by a 25-23 score.
Once again, Park Hill carried its momentum throughout the fifth set. They jumped out to a 5-2 lead and eventually took the match-deciding fifth set 15-11, closing a comeback effort the Trojans will remember for a while.
Park Hill came out of the gates strong, leading by as many as six points in the first set and two in the second set. In the first pair of sets, Park Hill South finished strong to take set one 25-21 and set two 25-22.
“Always a big game against our sister school,” Hood said about the matchup. “They get the nerves and both teams equally want to win, I just wanted them to go out and just play.”
Park Hill celebrates a five-set victory against Park Hill South on Sept. 11.
Off to one of the best starts in program history, the rivalry victory improved the Trojans’ record to 6-0, 2-0 in conference play, while the Panthers dropped to 7-2, 1-1 in conference.
South has matchups this week in Belton on Sept. 15 and home to Kearney on Sept. 17 before the Mo-Kan Regional Tournament at Lee’s Summit West High School on Sept. 20. Park Hill visits St. Teresa’s Academy on Sept. 16 before their home opener on Sept. 18 against North Kansas City.