Both squads brought back a lot of players and with that a hunger to remain one of the top squads in Class C. While Falconer left Gowanda with the 3-0 CCAA Division 1 victory, the scores 25-12, 25-19 and 25-23 showed a much closer contest.

“We’ve had a long weekend with Spikefest,” Falconer head coach Marah Micek said about her team. “The girls had off yesterday. I was honestly surprised that we came out and served tough tonight and we passed really well. We got lots of kills versus a really scrappy, good defensive team, so I was proud of the girls for that.”

Coming fresh off a Falconer Spikefest victory over the weekend, the Golden Falcons were dominant in the first set with plenty of points coming right off the service line.

Hannah Melquist shined brightest from there with seven aces to go along with her nine kills, 27 assists and seven digs.

Gowanda’s Holland Browning (4) hits past Falconer’s Nazariah Neal and Augustine Krenzer during Monday’s CCAA Division 1 volleyball match at Gowanda Central School. OBSERVER Photo by Christian Storms

“It’s something I preach,” Micek said about serving. “Serve tough and they did. Hannah was serving some rockets to start the game and we just feed off that energy and that correlates to the rest of our game at the same time.”

It was a combination of good placement and Gowanda struggling with serve-receive in the early going, falling behind 14-5 and 22-10 in the 25-12 loss.

Falconer got out to another big lead in the second set, using a six-point run to jump out to a 13-4 advantage, but the Panthers called a timeout during the run and made the correct adjustments. From then on, the Golden Falcons struggled stringing together points and Gowanda battled back into the contest.

“I think we hung with them for the end there,” Gowanda head coach Brenda Gernatt said about the match. “I think for a while we got stuck behind with serve-receive, but overall I think the girls did a nice job digging it up. Falconer is a very tough team, a young team, but I think our girls hung with them and did a nice job battling it out to make it a close match.”

Gowanda didn’t completely get its offense rolling in the second set, but it showed it could limit Falconer’s. The Panthers managed to bring the score to 23-18, but the damage was already done in the eventual 25-19 loss.

Gowanda's Addison Kota digs out a ball during Monday's CCAA Division 1 match against Falconer. OBSERVER Photo by Christian Storms

Again, in the third set, the Golden Falcons jumped to an early lead as they found offense through Emily Zaranek with 10 kills and nine digs, Mylie Zaranek with 10 kills and seven digs, and Augustine Krenzer adding five kills and 13 digs.

“We have a really balanced attack right now,” stated Micek. “We have multiple girls getting double-digit kills. It’s just really fun to see.”

It looked like Falconer would cruise to an easy win, but then Gowanda found its footing. Trailing 24-14 the Panthers went on an epic run to claw right back into the game, scoring nine points to make it 24-23.

“We were able to figure out they were hitting us deep,” Gernatt stated. “We made an adjustment with our defense. We went deep and they tipped on us. We were able to cover a lot and I just told the girls to keep on moving because they’re going to work us.”

Needing just one point, Falconer escaped the comeback with the sweep, but Gowanda showed why it was a sectional finalist a year ago.

“Just be calm,” Micek said about the mindset trying to hold off the Gowanda rally. “Play our game and control what we can control. So just settle in and pass the ball well and get out of it and keep battling.”

The Panthers’ effort was led by Holland Browning with seven kills, 13 digs and an ace, Addison Kota added six kills, seven digs and an ace, Elizabeth Green scored four aces, three kills and four digs, while Jill Gernatt made 17 assists and five digs.

Falconer improves to 3-0 and will entertain Cassadaga Valley on Wednesday, while Gowanda (2-1) looks to get back in the win column on the same day when it hosts Ellicottville.