Since the Bears entered the PSAA in the fall of 2018, the volleyball team has engineered an incredible run of dominance that included eight sweeps of Portledge, two of those coming in the last two PSAA semifinals. But the Panthers showed up yesterday determined to flip the script as they grabbed the opening set, 25-19, the first set they had ever taken off the Bears.

In the opening round, the Bears looked tentative and their communication was uneven, while the #3 seeded Panthers looked confident as they swung for numerous kills and served up three aces.

But all the visitors seemed to accomplish by stealing the first set was to wake up the Bears, who quickly returned to characteristic form in set two. The hosts held an early 2-1 lead before Cassandra Rohan took over the serve and instigated a 4-0 spurt that included a pair of aces. The Bears led 9-5 when they ran off five straight points, punctuated by an Ella Middlekauff ace and an Adelaide Tietjen kill for a 14-5 lead. The Bear lead hit double-digits at 20-10 following a Rohan spike that ricocheted off a Panther and into the raised basketball hoop overhead. A Tietjen block pushed the Bears within a point of victory at 24-15, and Middlekauff finished the 25-16 set win with a kill.

In set three, the Bears continued their quality play as they jumped out to a 4-0 lead thanks to a Julianna Sparacio ace and a Myla Lombardo kill. Kills from Middlekauff and Rohan and an ace from Lombardo followed, and the Panthers made numerous errors that were absent from their first-set play as The Brook built a 17-5 lead. The Bears were untested the rest of the way, and Rohan ended the set with an ace as the Bears took it, 25-16, to take a 2-1 lead in the match.

With their backs against the wall, the Panthers fought back in the fourth set. The taut frame saw 10 ties, and the Bears twice had late three-point leads at 16-13 and 20-17 that the Panthers knotted up with 3-0 runs. Portledge drew even again at 21-21 before they found the net and incurred a double touch to give the Bears a 23-21 cushion they would not give back. Portledge scored the next point but hit their ensuing shot long as the Bears moved within a point of victory at 24-22. Rohan emphatically closed the match, sending a spike into the deck to vault the Bears back into the Championship for an eighth straight year.

The #2 seeded Bears move on to the PSAA Championship against top-seed Long Island Lutheran on Wednesday afternoon at LuHi.

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