The Panola Fillies competed in the NJCAA Division I National Tournament in Casper, Wyoming November 17-19. It was the program's 2nd appearance overall and first since 2009.
The tournament began with an opening round win against Hill College in 5 sets (19-25. 25-20, 19-25, 25-20, 15-10) followed by a quarterfinal loss to Santa Fe Community College (25-22, 23-25, 23-25, 25-21). The Fillies were led Day 1 by freshman middle blocker Barbara Sabino who notched 13 kills against both Hill and Santa Fe, posting impressive hitting clips of .478 and .440, respectively. Against Hill, freshman Jaqueline da Silva also tallied 13 kills, followed by sophomore Rachel Henderson with 11. Henderson also combined for 6 block assists and 3 solos on the day, followed by 7 block assists and 2 solos from Sabino. Freshman setter Cayman Sutton dished out 55 assists on the day, while freshman Kinly Carter added 13 against Hill. Sophomores Morgan Currie and Victoria Baptista both tallied 20 digs total the first two matches, followed by da Silva with 19.
In the final two matches of the tournament, Panola fell to Salt Lake in 3, before closing out the weekend Saturday with a 5-set comeback win over #3 Western Nebraska to secure a 7th place overall finish in the country.
In the victory against Western Nebraska, three Fillies finished with double-digit kills and hitting efficiencies above .400, led by Jaqueline da Silva (18 kills on .457 hitting), freshman Kaitlyn Adams (16 kills on .433 hitting), and Rachel Henderson (10 kills on .500 hitting). Melanie Casteel also came up big for PC, posting 5 kills on .364 hitting. Morgan Currie anchored the backrow defense with 16 digs while Victoria Baptista chipped in 11, and the freshman setting duo of Cayman Sutton and Kinly Carter contributed 53 total assists. Barbara Sabino's 7 block assists and 2 solos added to her offense earned her a spot on the prestigious NJCAA National All-Tournament team.
The 7th-place National finish caps off a memorable season in which the Fillies finished 35-4 overall (including 17 wins over teams nationally-ranked in the top 20 at some point this season), undefeated in District H Conference play, finished Region XIV Champions, compiled a 27-match winning streak that lasted from September 3rd to November 17th, received 10 total All-Conference selections including superlatives Player of the Year and Coach of the Year, and was ranked #1 in the country for the final three weeks of NJCAA Division I polls.