It was close, but on Thursday the Hershey Panthers sidestepped the Lexington Minutemen for a 3-2 victory.
Hershey was staring down a 2-1 deficit headed into the fourth set, but they rallied to take the next two for the win. The match finished with set scores of 20-25, 25-15, 18-25, 25-22, 15-13.
Hershey had a senior duo take command as Demi Damoude had 31 assists, 17 digs, 10 kills, three aces, and two solo blocks and Ella Thompson had 33 digs. Another player making a difference was Lexi Pinkerton, who had 13 digs, eight kills, and two solo blocks.
Brynn Kaiser and Sydney Reutlinger-Maravilla certainly did their best on Thursday to avoid the loss. Kaiser had 32 assists, 13 digs, and two aces, while Reutlinger-Maravilla had 15 kills, 13 digs, and two aces. The team also got some help from Josslyn Mins, who had 14 kills, six digs, and two aces.
The win improved Hershey's record to 3-5. As for Lexington, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 5-4.
Looking ahead, Hershey will head out on the road to take on Maywood/Hayes Center at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday. As for Lexington, they wasted no time getting back out on the court and have already played their next match, a 2-0 loss against Freeman on the 12th.
