Lady Panthers sweep Lady Bears on the road

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  • North Hopkins senior Selene Leon returns a serve in the Lady Panthers Friday night win. Leon had nine points on six kills and three aces in the match. Staff photo by Todd Kleiboer
    North Hopkins senior Selene Leon returns a serve in the Lady Panthers Friday night win. Leon had nine points on six kills and three aces in the match. Staff photo by Todd Kleiboer
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Mathis leads with 18 kills

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SULPHUR BLUFF— The North Hopkins Lady Panthers traveled to Sulphur Bluff Tuesday, hoping to extend their winning streak to three games. North Hopkins beat Pittsburg, 3-2, and Trenton, 3-1, in their previous two games.

The Lady Panthers opened the first set with a lot of momentum, scoring the first six points of the match. Sulphur Bluff answered back with four straight points of their own, but North Hopkins answered back and dominated the remainder of the set.

North Hopkins was able to extend their lead to as much as 20-5 before taking the first set by a score of 25-14.

The Lady Panthers opened the second set by scoring the first four points. Sulphur Bluff answered back with a pair of points and were able to keep things close for the entire set.

With just a one-point lead at 17-16, the Lady Panthers turned their offense on. They finished the set on a 8-2 run to take the set, 25-18.

The third set opened with the two teams trading points back and forth un til North Hopkins took the lead at 4-3. From there, the Lady Panthers scored four straight to extend their lead to 8-3. The closest the score got in the final frame was 10-7 before North Hopkins went on a 15-6 run to finish the set. They complete the three-set sweep by a final score of 25-13.

Raylee Mathis was a huge force in the game, leading the way with 18 kills. Mathis also had six points on four aces and one block.

Kortni Ferrell played a big role by leading the team with 20 assists. Ferrell had eight points and one ace.

Other notables for the Lady Panthers were Makayla Buchannan who had 22 points, eight assists and one kill. Selene Leon had nine points on six kills and three aces.

The junior varsity also won for North Hopkins, taking the first set 25-23 and the third set 26-24.

Coverage of North Hopkins Friday night matchup against Dodd City will be published in upcoming editions of the News-Telegram.