By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Sports Editor

PELHAM – Taking on a John Carroll team that is up a classification due to the private school rule enforced by the AHSAA thanks to their dominance over the years, Pelham found itself with a chance to gain a lot of momentum on the volleyball court at home on Tuesday, Sept. 4.

And confidence the Panthers got.

Pelham didn’t just win the match, and the Panthers didn’t just sweep the match in straight sets, they swept the match in straight sets in dominant fashion, winning each set by at least seven points.

Starting out in the first set of the match, the Panthers jumped all over the Cavaliers and never looked back. After ceasing the opening momentum early in the first set, they went on to have their most dominant set of the match, taking down John Carroll by a score of 25-8 to kick-start the evening with a strong 1-0 lead.

While the next two sets were slightly closer, specifically the second set, John Carroll was in a hole that was going to be tough to crawl out of.

The Cavaliers battled in the next set of the match, but Pelham eventually built its lead back up with a strong run and went on to win the second set by a final of 25-18.

Now up 2-0 in the match, it was a mere formality for the Panthers with the Cavaliers having no momentum whatsoever.

In the final set, Pelham went on to have another dominant showing to close the match out with a 25-14 set win.

It was a big victory for this Pelham team after coming into the season with a lot of uncertainty thanks to the loss of Emorie Long and Jamila Wilson, two of last year’s best playmakers, as well as the pressure of having a target on their back coming into the season.

At high school media days, all of them seemed nervous about that, but ready to prove to everybody that they could handle it, while head coach Perry Robinson tried to assure everybody, including his players, that it wasn’t a big deal and that they were looking forward.

So far this season, they are either proving everybody right that they were ready to handle the pressure, or their head coach was right in saying it wasn’t a big deal. Either way, the team has looked good in the early going and hasn’t come close to reaching its full potential with a ton of growth still ahead.