The Los Banos Tiger gym was packed and noisy Tuesday night, Oct 18, when the Los Banos Tigers volleyball team hosted its cross-town rivals, the Pacheco Panthers.
A Pacheco victory would secure the Panthers third place in the Western Athletic Conference and a spot in the Sac-Joaquin Section volleyball playoffs.
Los Banos won the opening set when America Ordunez killed the deciding shot to give the Tigers a 26-24 set win over Pacheco. That was as close as it would get for the Tigers, as Pacheco won the second set 25-6 when Kam Cortinas slammed home the winning point for Pacheco.
The Panthers won the third set 25-22 as Es’ense Walker stopped a Tiger shot at the net with the winning point.
The Lady Panthers closed out the fourth, deciding match by the score of 25-16, and punched their ticket to the Sac-Joaquin section volleyball playoffs.
The Panthers will have played their opening section tournament match on Oct 22, with an opponent, place, and time to be announced later.
After the match, senior setter Abi Pikas talked about the game and the playoffs, “We all came together for this one goal; making the section playoffs were our main target, and we did it. A lot of hard work and determination has been rewarded with this trip to the section playoffs all season long.”
