Panther Volleyball Defeats Pattonville and Moves to State Quarterfinals

While their record might be well under .500, the Pattonville boys volleyball team battled one of the best teams in the area in a 25-19, 25-21 loss to Mehlville in the Class 4, District 2 tournament at Saint Louis University High Saturday.

The win for Mehlville came with a sigh of relief after the Panthers went three games to defeat Eureka 25-22, 20-25, 15-13 earlier in the day.

“We were a little drained in our energy,” Mehlville head coach Dennis Perry said. “I think we had such an emotional game against Eureka and it showed up on the court against Pattonville.”

Perry was also impressed with Pattonville’s defensive stance against his Panthers.

“Pattonville got in our face defensively and I give them all the credit in the world,” Perry said. “Hopefully we can bounce back and play our next match with a little more energy.”

Mehlville’s Dan Braun also realizes that despite the wins over Eureka and Pattonville, the Panthers still needed to defeat Parkway South or SLUH to advance to the state quarterfinals on Monday.

“We’ve got two wins today but we’re not playing where we want to be playing because we want to pick up our level of play,” he said. “Hopefully we can beat SLUH and Parkway South and keep on going.”

Pattonville has struggled all season, and often in close games.

“The season overall has been very rough,” Pattonville head coach Becky Middendorf said. “We’ve had tons of close games, but for whatever reason we just can’t seem to finish the game out. We’re missing too many serves and that’s putting us in a bad situation.”

Pattonville senior middle hitter Max Brown is also frustrated with the Pirate’s inability to finish out opponents this season.

“It’s been like that the whole season,” Brown said. “We haven’t really made that final step to get those final points and win the game.”

Editor's Note: The team defeated Parkway South and will play Oakville Monday at 6 p.m. at Kirkwood in the state quarterfinals.