Prairie City’s Betty Ann Wilson looks to spike the ball during a matchup with Crane on Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022. The Lady Panthers fell 3-1 in the match.

PRAIRIE CITY — The Prairie City volleyball team played host to local rivals Dayville/Monument and Crane for a round robin set of matches on Saturday, Oct. 8, emerging with a 3-0 sweep of the Lady Tigers and a 3-1 loss to the Crane Lady Mustangs. The young Dayville/Monument squad went 0-2 on the afternoon but battled in all six games they played.

The first match of the afternoon pitted the Lady Panthers agains the Lady Tigers of Dayville/Monument. The first game was a one-sided affair with the Lady Panthers emerging victorious with a 25-7 score.

The second game was much more competitive until the Lady Tigers ran out of steam to fall 25-17.

Prairie City would close out the Dayville/Monument squad in the third game, taking a 25-12 victory and winning the match 3-0.

The Dayville/Monument team would have little time to reflect as they faced off with second-ranked Crane immediately following their match with Prairie City. The Lady Mustangs looked the part of the No. 2 team in the state, dispatching the Lady Tigers with scores of 25-9 and 25-8 in the first two games.

The third game was much more competitive than the first two but still ultimately resulted in a 25-15 Lady Mustang win and a 3-0 sweep of the match.

The nightcap was the matchup everybody had been waiting for as the Lady Panthers got to measure how they stacked up against one of the best teams in the state in hosting the Lady Mustangs.

The first game of the match was a back-and-forth affair that saw the Lady Panthers fall behind and then rally to a 25-23 win to take a 1-0 lead in the match. The Lady Mustangs would regroup, however, winning the next three matches in a row with scores of 25-16, 25-17 and 25-18 to take the match 3-1 and deal the Lady Panthers their second loss to Crane on the season.

Much like the first game, the Lady Panthers would find themselves down and attempting to rally to victory in the final three games of the match. Unlike the first game, though, the Lady Mustangs would blunt the Lady Panther attempts at come-from-behind victories.

Dayville/Monument coach Cheyenne Clark said she sees her team getting better. “Whether it’s hitting or serving or our blocking or whether it’s just talking, they’re improving with every single game.”

“This game in particular (against Crane) we came in with a different mindset, with having little wins rather than the overall score as a win, just because we have little goals to accomplish and they did. Crane is a hard-hitting team and we knew that and a hard-serving team and they were able to dig some of their hits and dig some of their serves, so I was really proud of them with that,” Clark said.

Clark’s team came into the match with Prairie City with a different approach, focusing on intangibles that will make the team better in the long run. “For us in that game we wanted to work on our mindset and our overall having a better attitude and coming in with confidence, and we were able to do that,” Clark said. “These girls, if they were to just believe and have more confidence in themselves, they would be able to play better overall.”