Saratoga Lady Panthers fall short at State Championships

The Lady Panthers were hot on the heels of the Buckaroos, fighting hard at last Friday’s matchup.

The Panthers took the first two games 25-14 and 25-20, but lost momentum and fell to the Buckaroos 23-25, 21-25 and 14-16.

This is Whitney Bennett’s last game. She left nothing on the court with 19 kills and 41 digs.

Another senior, Olivia Everett with 17 kills and 23 digs was on top of her last game as well.

Makenna King still has a year left at Saratoga and must be an inspiration to her teammates with 19 kills.

Coach Shayley Love had this to say, “State was a good experience. We knew our first match was going to be a tough one. We came out strong and beat Southeast the first set.  We played pretty well the rest of the game,  but couldn’t win another set after that, falling in 4 to them. Our second match was against Kaycee.  Again, we came out strong and won the first 2 sets.  The next 3 sets were a dog fight as both teams were trying to stay alive during the tournament.  Ultimately, as hard as our girls worked, we weren’t able to come away with the win and were eliminated from the tournament. It was a great season with much success throughout. It is sad to see this group of seniors move on, but I know they all have bigger things ahead of them.”