Panthers sweep Dade County, advance to 2nd consecutive Final Four
Lady Panthers, Sports, Team FYN Sports October 28, 2021
Blairsville, Georgia- The Union County Panthers volleyball team hosted Dade County in the Elite Eight of the GHSA State Playoffs.
1st Set
The Panthers took an early 5-2 lead but Dade County fought back and cut the Panther lead to one, 6-5. The Panthers extended their lead to 9-5 and forced a Dade County timeout. As the Panthers were dominating early on, extending their lead to 18-12, Dade County stormed back to tie the set at 18. After being tied 20-20, the Panthers went on a 5-1 run and won the set 25-21. The Panthers faced a lot of adversity in this set but overcame it and won the set. The Panthers will need to overcome a lot of adversity from now on because of the level of competition they will be playing against.
2nd Set
The Panthers went up 4-1 quick and forced Dade County to call a timeout very early in the set. The Panthers dominated early in the set again, leading 7-3. Dade County stormed back for the second set in a row and cut the early Panther lead to one, 7-6. Dade County tied the game at 7 and took their first lead 8-7. The Panthers were forced to call a timeout. The Panthers were making a lot of mistakes and found theirselves trailing 14-9. Kaylee Ashcraft put the team on her back and put the Panthers back into the set. The Panthers came back and took a 16-15 lead. The set was tied 19-19 late and the scoring was going back and forth. The Panthers faced even more adversity in this set than the 1st set and battled back to win it 25-23.
3rd set
Both teams battled it out to begin the set. Dade County had their backs to the wall, and it was win or go home for them. The Panthers knew they were one set away from getting back to the Final Four. The Panthers took an early 7-3 lead. Dade County came back to tie it at 7. The Panthers went on a 4-0 run after that to take an 11-7 lead that forced a Dade County timeout. The Panthers went up 18-11 to take a commanding lead late in the set and to force another Dade County timeout. Following the timeout, the Panthers went on a 7-2 run to beat Dade County 25-13 and advance to their 2nd consecutive Final Four. The Panthers will face Pace Academy on Saturday @ Lakepoint Sports Champions Center.
Lady Panthers advance to third consecutive Elite Eight, sweep Johnson-Augusta
Sports, Team FYN Sports October 24, 2021
Blairsville, Georgia- The Union County Panthers volleyball team Hosted Johnson-Augusta in the Sweet Sixteen of the GHSA State Playoffs.
1st Set
The Panthers started the set on a 4-0 run to gain control of the set right out of the gate. Johnson would come back and cut the lead to 1 but the Panthers would go on a quick 3-0 run to force Johnson to call timeout. The Panthers went on a 6-0 run after the timeout to extend their lead to 13-3. Following multiple mistakes by the Panthers, Johnson went on a 9-3 run to cut the Panther lead to 16-15. After Johnson cut the lead to 1, the Panthers went on a 4-0 run to force another timeout. Johnson wouldn’t go out without a fight and made things close until the end. The Panthers would go on to win 25-20 to win the first set.
2nd Set
To begin the 2nd set, the Panthers got off to a hot start again. The Panthers got out to a 9-3 lead early in the set. Johnson was having a hard time scoring and keeping up with the Panthers in the second set. The Panthers led 17-5 which forced Johnson to call timeout. Following the timeout, Johnson scored 2 quick points but the Panthers found their rhythm again and extended their lead to 21-7. The Panthers scored 4 straight points to win the second set 25-7.
3rd Set
The Panthers dominated this set from start to finish. The Panthers got out to an early 5-1 lead that forced Johnson to use their first timeout. Johnson was having a tough time keeping up with the Panthers in this set. Johnson trailed 13-5 towards the middle of the set. Johnson cut the lead to 14-10 but couldn’t pull off the huge comeback. The Panthers dominated the rest of the set to win the last set 25-13 and swept Johnson to advance to the Elite Eight. The Panthers will host Dade County on Wednesday October 28.
Lady Panthers sweep Pepperell to advance to Sweet Sixteen
Sports, Team FYN Sports, Union County Panthers October 21, 2021
Blairsville, Georgia- The Union County Panthers volleyball team hosted the Pepperell Dragons in the first round of the GHSA state playoffs.
1st Set
The Panthers began the first set playing sloppy. The Dragons came to play and didn’t back down. The Panthers trailed 4-1 early on but started to find some momentum. The Panthers cut the deficit to 6-4 early but the Dragons kept extending their lead. The scoring went back and forth for a good bit. The Panthers started closing in on the Dragons and tied the game at 11. The Panthers took their first lead 12-11. The Dragons would retake the lead 13-12 after a timeout. After a 13-13 tie, the scoring would go back and forth for a while again. The Panthers went on a quick 3-0 run to force the Dragons to call a timeout. The Panthers led 19-16 after the timeout but the Dragons didn’t lay down and quit. After a 22-18 lead, the Dragons would cut the lead to 2. The Panthers would end the set with a lot of momentum and win the set 25-21.
2nd Set
The Panthers started this set sloppy just like the first one. The Panthers got down 3-1 immediately. The Panthers came back to tie it at 6 and took an early 7-6 lead. The Panthers started playing with confidence and went on a 12-3 run to lead 17-9. The Panthers were playing with a lot of energy and were dominating the Dragons. The Dragons started to gain some momentum after some mistakes by the Panthers. The Dragons cut the lead to 22-17 and put the pressure on the Panthers. The Panthers ended the set on a 3-1 run and won the 2nd set 25-18.
3rd Set
To begin the 3rd set, the Panthers knew they needed to get the job done and they played like it. The Panthers started the set on a 4-0 run. The Dragons scored 2 straight points but the Panthers followed that up with 6 straight points that led to a Dragon timeout. The Panthers led 11-3 at the timeout. The Panthers went on a 14-4 run to end the set and dominated the Dragons in the 3rd set. The Panthers swept the Dragons to advance to the Panthers 3rd straight Sweet Sixteen. The Panthers will host Johnson on Saturday October 23 @ 12pm.
Panthers sweep in Area Tournament to win 2nd area championship in a row
Featured Stories, Lady Panthers, Sports, TeamFYNSports October 13, 2021
Blairsville, Georgia- The Union County Panthers Volleyball team hosted the 1/2A Area 8 region tournament. The Panthers needed to win the championship to gain the #1 seed.
Union/Commerce
The Panthers struggled early, quickly down 6-1. The Panthers then found their rhythm and tied the game at 7 and took their first lead of the set 8-7. The set quickly started going the Panthers way as they started to dominate the Tigers. The Panthers outscored the Tigers 18-4 after taking the 8-7 lead. In set 2, the Panthers started slow and were down 4-2 early. The Panthers again found their rhythm and their domination continued. Junior Kaylee Ashcraft found her groove and took over the set. The Panthers led 18-13 late in the set and never looked back. The Panthers went on to win 25-13. The Panthers beat the Tigers 2-0 in the first round of the tournament.
Union/Oglethorpe
Early in the 1st set the scoring was very balanced. The Panthers then went on a 6-0 run and forced the Patriots to call a timeout. The Patriots went on a quick run themselves as the Panthers were struggling. The Panthers led 11-6. The momentum then went back and forth to both teams as both teams were going on short runs. The Panthers still led 18-13. The Patriots made things very interesting towards the end and drew within 3 but the Panthers went onto win 25-22 to win the 1st set. In the 2nd set, the Panthers started slow but caught their rhythm quickly. The Panthers went up 10-6 as the Patriots called a timeout. The Panthers went on a quick 4-1 run after the timeout. After going up 17-7, the Panthers never looked back and went on to win 25-16. The Panthers would now host the championship vs Lake Oconee Academy.
Union/Lake Oconee Academy
To begin the 1st set, both teams went back and forth for almost the entire set. Both teams were evenly matched and proved why they were the top 2 teams in the region. The score was 3-3 early on. Senior Morgan Fussell led the Panthers in the first game and was a huge factor in the series. The Titans went on a run to gain momentum and took an early 12-10 lead that forced the Panthers to call a timeout. The Titans came out of the timeout and increased their lead to 14-10. The Panthers stormed back to tie it at 16 and took the lead 17-16. After the Panthers took a 18-16 lead, the Titans called timeout. Coming out of the timeout, the Titans tied it at 18. Then both teams took turns going up 2 points and each team came back to tie it. The Panthers were up 24-23 and won the set after a Titan player tipped the ball before it went out. The Panthers won the 1st set 25-23. The 2nd set was just as close as the 1st set. Both teams went back and forth for most of the set. Early on the Panthers went up 4-1 but the Titans came back and cut the lead to 2, 5-3. The Titans then took a 7-5 lead. The Panthers would then comeback and tie the game at 7 and take a 8-7 lead. The game would then again go back and forth. The Panthers were up 16-13 and the Titans stormed back again to tie it and then took a 18-17 lead. The set was tied 20-20 and the Panthers would go on a 3-0 run and to take a 23-20 lead to get them 2 points away from their second area championship in a row. Things got interesting as the Panthers made 2 mistakes and the Titans cut the lead down to 24-23 but Junior Sofia Swartz got the game point and sealed the victory and the area championship for the Panthers. The Panthers won the 2nd set 25-24 and won their 2nd area championship in a row. The Panthers will now host the 1st round of the state playoffs.
Lady Panthers advance to second straight Sweet Sixteen, beating ACA in four sets.
Team FYN Sports October 22, 2020
The Union County Lady Panthers (17-7,8-0) hosted Atlanta Classical Academy (6-9,5-4) for Round One of the Class A/AA State Tournament. Union dominated in Region 8-AA all season, going undefeated in region 8-AA. Atlanta Classical Academy finished fourth in Area 5-A/AA. As you know, in the state tournament, all records get thrown out the window and each team gets the chance to go on a run and ruin any teams good season.
In the first set, the Lady Panthers got off to a hot start, scoring the first 4 points and then went on a 6-1 run before ACA called their first timeout. After the timeout, Union took control of the game only allowing 5 points in the rest of the set. Union won the first set, 25-9.
The second set started off very competitive. ACA started off strong, leading most of first few minutes and making the most of their opportunities. Union started to pull away midway through the set, taking control of the set offensively and defensively. Union held a 22-13 lead and ACA started storming back. ACA went on a 9-0 run to make it 24-21. Union did settle down and get the game point to win the second set, 25-21.
In the third set, ACA picked the right time to play their best game. It was win or go home. ACA took the momentum from the end of the second set and ran with it. They got off to a hot start and kept the momentum throughout the whole set. Even though the Lady Panthers didn’t play their best game, they went on a few scoring runs late to make things interesting but fell short at the end, losing 25-23.
In the fourth set, the Lady Panthers got things back on track and won the fourth and final set 25-18. The Lady Panthers advance to their second straight Sweet 16 where they will host the Armuchee Indians (22-13) on Saturday at noon.