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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

HOMEWOOD – The Pelham Panthers kept their positive momentum going ahead of the start of area play in a quad match against Ramsay and Homewood on Thursday, Sept. 8 at Homewood High School.

The Panthers won both matches in straight sets, defeating the Homewood Patriots, 2-0, before they beat the Ramsay Rams, 2-0.

In the opening match against the host Patriots, Pelham opened strong as they gained a lead in the first set and didn’t look back.

The Panthers closed out the set on top and took the opening frame by a score of 25-17 to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

Pelham had the momentum in the second set since they were up by a set, and they took a wider lead the second time around to secure victory.

Pelham took the second set, 25-15, as they earned a straight-set victory over the Homewood Patriots.

Londyn Wynn led the way all around the floor for Pelham in the match, leading the Panthers in kills with six, aces with three and digs with nine while hitting for a team high +.357 hitting percentage.

Juliana Bitas had eight digs to finish just behind Wynn in the category, Kamryn Rouveyrol earned five digs and Camryn McMinn and Kylee Hester both had four.

Hester also helped enable the offense with her 15 assists, Jojo Miller earned four kills and three total blocks and McMinn also had four kills in the match.

In the back half of their doubleheader, Pelham stayed on the floor to take on Ramsay in a bid to go perfect on the day.

Pelham put their foot on the gas to open up the match and never looked back as they established a wide lead over the Rams.

The Panthers eventually cruised to a 25-8 victory in the first set to take the lead in the match and set themselves up to close out the match in the second set.

Pelham did just that, as the Panthers refused to let up in the next set to give themselves another controlling lead.

Pelham would go on to win with an identical score to the first set, 25-8, to earn the sweep and the match win.

The Panthers finished the quad match with an undefeated 2-0 record, and they did not drop a set over the two matches as they improved to 7-5 on the season.

Caley Peterson stepped up and led the Panthers in kills with five, and Hester was close behind with four of her own and hit for +.667 for the match.

While Hester had another solid match with 11 assists, it was her contributions at the service line which made the difference for Pelham. She won nine aces in 21 attempts as she won 19 points overall, earned an ace on 42.9% of her serves and finished with a perfect serve percentage.

Hester and Kendall Washington tied for the digs lead with four, and Brenna Vickery earned three digs to go with her three aces. Juliana Bites also had three digs as well.

Pelham will travel to Montgomery to play in the Mayor’s Cup on Sept. 8-9, and they will face Carver-Montgomery, Spanish Fort, Saint James and Brewbaker Tech in pool play over the weekend in hopes of reaching bracket play.