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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

PELHAM – The Pelham Panthers and Chelsea Hornets engaged in a tight battle on Thursday, Sept. 25 in a quest to remain on pace within the Class 6A, Area 8 standings.

In the end, Pelham emerged victorious, taking control after a razor-tight first two sets to secure the 3-1 victory at home at Pelham High School.

The first two sets saw the teams only separated by a few points as they sought the upper hand in the matchup.

Chelsea emerged from that closeness and held off the threat of extra points in the first set to seal the opening-frame victory. The Hornets won the first set by a score of 25-23 to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

However, Pelham flipped that on its head by narrowly eking out a second-set victory.

Unlike the first set, the Panthers and Hornets went to extra points thanks to a 24-24 tie. The two teams then split the next two points to leave the set and the match hanging in the balance.

That’s when Pelham took over and won back-to-back points to seal the second-set win. The Panthers’ 27-25 win tied up the match at 1-1 and got the hosts back into the matchup.

The second-set win proved to be a turning point in the match as Pelham took control of the remaining two sets.

The Panthers established a more comfortable lead during the third set and had the advantage in the final stretch of the set. Pelham then took care of business to grab the lead in the matchup.

The Panthers sealed the 25-19 third-set victory to get up 2-1 in the match, and once they took the lead, they took care of business from there.

Just like the first three sets, Chelsea remained in contention throughout the fourth set and was within striking distance as Pelham neared victory. However, the Panthers finished off the win from there.

Pelham won the fourth set in 25-19 fashion to secure the 3-1 match win.

Aubrie Smith led the offense with 17 kills. Ryleigh Deaver and Nyssa Wynn each finished with seven kills while Claire Robinson had four kills and Bristol Hannah and Kaliyah Arrington each had three kills. Hannah orchestrated the offense with 30 assists.

Lilia Couture had a team-high four aces as Girardin earned three aces and Hannah, Wynn and Sydney Hill each secured a pair of aces.

Over on defense, Wynn racked up a team-high 17 digs, and Hill also got into double figures with 10 digs. Smith and Girardin secured eight digs, Couture earned seven digs and Hannah finished with four digs.

Pelham improved to 11-17 overall and 1-2 in area play, putting it 0.5 games above 1-3 Chelsea and Helena in the standings. The Panthers will play in a quad match at Hartselle High School on Saturday, Sept. 27 and face the Hartselle Tigers, Mountain Brook Spartans and Hazel Green Trojans.

The Hornets dropped to 11-13 overall in addition to their 1-3 area record. Their next match will be an area matchup on Tuesday, Sept. 30 at 6 p.m. on the road at the Helena Huskies.