Gowanda’s Paige Gabel serves during Wednesday’s game against Cassadaga Valley, in Gowanda. OBSERVER Photo by Christian Storms.

GOWANDA — After some uncharacteristic sloppy play by Gowanda in the second and third sets of their match against fierce CCAA North Division opponent Cassadaga Valley, the Lady Panthers found themselves in a hole, down 2-1.

The Lady Panthers found the lead in the fourth set and held off a push by the Lady Cougars to get the 29-27 victory that forced a fifth set. In the fifth set, Gowanda carried its momentum over and led all the way to a 25-16 victory and got them the big 3-2 win, 25-21, 14-25, 23-25, 29-27, 25-16.

“It seems like whenever we play Gowanda it goes to five sets,” said Cassadaga Valley head coach Denny Wakelee. “I think we’re both pretty evenly matched. We knew it was going to be a tough battle… we watched the film, tried to make some adjustments. We just had too many runs of making errors.”

The first set was pretty even and saw Gowanda maintain a narrow lead with neither team putting together a significant run. Cassadaga Valley tied the game at 16-16, but that was as close as they would get in the first set as the hosting Panthers began to pull away. The Lady Panthers put together a four point run that saw them go up 24-18 and it proved too much for Cassadaga Valley to come back from as Gowanda won the first set 25-21.

After losing to Gowanda earlier this year at home in five sets, the taste of defeat was still sour in their mouth and they wanted to make sure they didn’t fall into a hole against the Panthers. In the second set, the Lady Cougars pounced on the Lady Panthers and jumped out to a 9-2 lead. That lead was good enough buffer for the Lady Cougars in the second set as Gowanda began making mistakes not usually seen by them — players weren’t communicating as well in the first set and it led to a lot of easy points for Cassadaga Valley.

The closest Gowanda got in the set was trailing 13-9, but Cassadaga Valley stepped on the gas pedal and powered to a 25-14 win.

The third set was a little closer, as both teams cleaned up mistakes making it more even. Cassadaga Valley took control in the set when trailing 14-12, they responded with a five point run to go up 17-14. Gowanda didn’t give up as they eventually caught back up at 21-21 and eventually found a 23-22 lead, but the Lady Cougars dug deep and grinded out the 25-23 victory.

“In the second and third sets they got early leads,” Wakelee said about his team. “When they got the early lead their heads are up. They’re fun, they’re looser.”

In the fourth set, it felt like whoever won it would go on to win the match. Cassadaga Valley looked to seize the lead early and found themselves up 8-3, but Gowanda wouldn’t let them run away. The Lady Panthers caught back up at 11-11, but the Lady Cougars were still trying to hold on as it appeared their momentum was slipping away.

Gowanda grabbed the lead at 13-12 and looked to be in the driver seat, but it continued to be a back and forth affair as the Lady Cougars caught back up and led 18-16. Gowanda responded with a four point run that forced a Cassadaga Valley timeout at 20-18 in favor of the Lady Panthers.

After the timeout, Gowanda continued to pound the ball and got up 24-19, making it look like the Lady Cougars were down and out. Cassadaga Valley gave it one last push and battled back to a tie at 24-24 and forced overtime. Both sides battled hard for each and every point, but it was Gowanda who stayed out in front and eventually found consecutive scores to win 29-27.

With the huge fourth set win, Gowanda had all the momentum in the fifth set and jumped out to an early 8-2 lead. Cassadaga Valley tried to battle back, but the early start by Gowanda was enough as they ran to a 25-16 victory.

The Lady Panthers effort was led by Marleah Stevens with 26 kills, 14 digs, three aces; Miya Scanlan with 18 kills, 22 digs, seven blocks and two aces and Makenzie Carroll with 39 digs and five aces. Gowanda is back in action today when they travel to Pine Valley.

Cassadaga Valley was led by Kaitlyn Dahl with 28 assists and four aces, Heidi Williams with eight kills and six digs, Meghan LeBaron with six kills, six digs and five blocks and Kaylee Pattyson with six kills and four blocks. The Lady Cougars will attempt to get back in the win column on Friday when they travel to North Collins.