The Panorama Pythons hosted the Triumph Jaguars in the second-to-last game of the regular season for both teams. This matchup could have been considered a potentially close contest coming in, as they both have very strong winning records. The Jaguars came in at 23-7-5, sporting a 10-0 North Valley League record while the Pythons stood at 23-8 overall and 7-4 in Valley Mission League play. 

The Pythons, as recently as 11 days prior to this matchup, were in a position to secure a league championship. Panorama, however, is a team slotted into Division 4 of the CIF Los Angeles City Section, and their league rivals are all in higher divisions. They came crashing back down with three straight league losses to strong opponents. 

“It’s always hard during league with teams like Sylmar, like Kennedy which are D1, D2 schools.” commented Pythons head coach Ted Vargas. “We had a great first half with them, and going around our second time playing them, it’s a challenge. I think it’s going to serve us great when we go ahead into our (City Section Division 4) competition. It was a good experience and they have that. We’re still feeling very confident we’re going to do well in our division.”

The Jaguars, on the other hand, are a team that will be playing in Division 2 come playoffs. There were times Panorama looked like they were primed to compete and make this a real battle, but each time the Pythons would make a run, Triumph would be right there to answer back. Ultimately, the Jaguars would prevail in a 3-0 sweep (17-25. 23-25, 15-25).

“It feels very rewarding,” said Jaguars head coach Felipe Avila afterwards, “The girls are doing good. We’ve got a young squad, they’re holding it together right now.”

After dropping the first set and trailing early in the second set, 6-7, Panorama went on a 8-1 run that had them looking to take control of the set at 14-8. However, a side-out was followed by two Jaguars aces and the score was back to within three points. Both sides traded points before junior Isabella Holoman fired three straight aces for Triumph to tie the set at 17-17. The Pythons took the lead back almost immediately, and even held a lead of 21-19. Unfortunately for Panorama, miscues led to them giving away points and the Jaguars capitalized to take the set 23-25 following an ace from junior Daniella Juarez.

Feeling that victory was near, the Jaguars went for the kill. Juarez served Triumph to 10 straight points with two aces. Trailing 0-10, Panorama began to look to build a comeback. They earned service on a net error and went on a 7-3 run to trim the deficit to 7-13. From there, both teams took turns stringing together points and Triumph would pull away for the 15-25 win and 3-0 sweep of the match.

“I’ve to give it up to our captains,” reflected Avila, “(Holoman) showing dominance out there hitting, and we had to move her to the middle to clean it up a little. Our other captain Marisol (Solis) with her setting, just being dominant all the way through, and definitely Dani (Jaurez) with the serves – 10 serves and out on the last set, that’s good stuff out there.”

“We peaked early during the season.” Vargas said after the game, “We played a lot of hard teams and now that we will be seeded in a good position (in the Division 4 playoffs) I feel like our team will bounce back from these last few games.”

Both teams are back in action Monday, October 21 to end the regular season. Panorama wil travel to Canoga Park for their final Valley Mission League contest, while Triumph hosts WISH Academy. Both games are scheduled for 4:00 p.m.