ROSEBURG — Just three days after an opening round sweep that saw them through to the second round of the OSAA 1A state volleyball tournament, the Prairie City/Burnt River team played their final match of the 2023 season.

The Lady Panthers advanced to the second round of the OSAA 1A state volleyball tournament with a 3-0 sweep of Days Creek on Wednesday, Oct. 25, in Prairie City. Game scores for the match were 25-22, 27-25 and 25-21.

Prairie City/Burnt River volleyball coach Dennis Lynch said the key to the sweep against Days Creek was his team’s blocking, which didn’t allow Days Creek to have very much power behind any of their shots.

“They were trying to hit certain spots, but they didn’t have much on them, and it made it easier for our defensive players,” he said. “Our blocking has picked up the past few weeks and we had quite a few blocks (in that game).”

Just three days later, on Saturday, Oct. 28, the Lady Panthers’ season came to an end after a 3-0 sweep at the hands of the Umpqua Valley Christian Monarchs. Game scores for that match were 10-25, 24-26 and 19-25.

The first game of the match saw the Lady Panthers start mostly even with the Monarchs while still trailing 5-4 early. The Monarchs would score the game’s next nine points before the Lady Panthers scored their fifth point, building an early 14-5 lead.

The Lady Panthers ultimately wouldn’t be able to recover from the early deficit, falling 25-10 in game one to trail 1-0 in the best of five match.

The second started much like the first with the teams playing evenly to an early 6-6 tie. The Monarchs would create some space and break the game’s deadlock, taking a slim 13-10 lead to force a Lady Panther timeout.

The Monarchs would push ahead by as many as nine before the Lady Panthers rallied to make game two a dogfight. Trailing 21-12, the Lady Panthers slowly chipped away at the Monarch lead, coming all the way back to draw to within one at 23-22.

The Lady Panthers would tie the game at 24 before Umpqua Valley Christian scored the final two points of the second game to escape with a 26-24 win in game two and leave the Lady Panthers staring at a 2-0 match deficit.

The third and final game saw the Lady Panthers fall behind and falter after a late rally attempt. Trailing by as many as seven, the Lady Panthers drew to within three at 16-13 before the Monarchs rallied to push their lead back to seven at 21-14, forcing a Lady Panther timeout.

The Monarchs would extend their lead to 24-17 following the timeout to push the Lady Panthers to the brink of elimination. Prairie City/Burnt River would score twice more before the Monarchs would get the game’s final point and seal the 25-19 win and send the Lady Panthers home for the season as the victims of a 3-0 second round sweep.

Lynch said the match against Umpqua Valley Christian came down to not being able to dig out of an early deficit. “The first game we were down by as many as eight points, and it’s hard to come back from that far down and especially against a good team — it’s just not going to happen,” he said.

The team played pretty well in defeat in the second game, according to Lynch. The third and decisive game came down to a problem Lynch has referenced at other points in the season, simply getting over the hump against good teams.

“The third game we got down four or five points, we were coming back and we stayed about there the rest of the game. We just weren’t ever able to get ahead of them,” he said.

“Other than the first game, I thought we played pretty good volleyball that last match. We just couldn’t get over the top,” Lynch said. “We’ve had that trouble playing against good teams — not being able to score the last two or three points.”

This season, while successful overall, didn’t meet the goals the squad had set for themselves to start the season.

“We wanted to go to state,” Lynch said. “I guess technically we made the first couple rounds at the state tournament, but we wanted to make it to the state tournament and we had to win that last game to do that.”

Despite that, Lynch said the team did improve throughout the year.

“That’s something you always hope for — as long as you’re improving, you can accept it,” he said.

“We got better and that’s satisfying. We were just a little ways from making it over the top, and that’s always disappointing,” he said. “It was a pretty decent season all in all.”

The end of the season now brings the question of whether Lynch will be out on the court next season. Lynch, though, is keeping his cards close to his vest.

“Next year will be next year,” he said. “I don’t know what capacity I’ll be out there next year. I do want to help the program, and I especially want to help the younger kids.

“A lot of unanswered questions at this point,” Lynch added.