SHENANDOAH — Weatherly and Shenandoah Valley are not two teams that are at the top of the food chain in Schuylkill League girls volleyball.

But to watch them play Thursday evening, one would have thought there was plenty on the line as far as a berth in the playoffs.

They dug, swatted and found ways to pull off some standout hustle, and they wanted to compete.

It was a game of survival of the fittest.

The Wreckers and the Blue Devils had a combined league win total on the season of one.

That one win belonged to Weatherly, when it turned away Shenandoah Valley at the onset of the season, in Weatherly in five sets.

Shenandoah Valley reversed the tidings, scrapping its way to a 3-1 (26-24, 23-25, 25-17, 25-21) victory.

Oh, there were plenty of plaudits to dish out on both accounts.

How about the play of Weatherly’s trio — Rachel Rosenlund, Kelly Reiner and Kendra Moyer. They had some stellar moments helping to drive the team in set two, rallying like it was the game-winning point.

Weatherly fell behind 21-16, then got a huge breath of fresh air. The Wreckers reeled off a 9-2 run to even the set.

“I’ll tell you, we played hard,” Weatherly head coach Erica Kane-Paneshi said, knowing her team was within a clutch set win, but just couldn’t find that extra umph. “They tried and they had plenty of heart.”

The coach was referring to her team’s effort of needing to quell Shenandoah Valley’s momentum.

The effort was there.

Rosenlund registered four aces and 23 assists. Teammate Reiner picked up four service points, an ace and seven kills to go along with six digs, while Moyer tossed in an ace, seven kills and six digs.

However, that wasn’t quite enough to overcome the Devils top trio, including the big play of senior Morgan Labosky — a first-time volleyball player who slapped 13 kills, three service points and an ace. Dana Chagolla, a junior, had some impressive numbers, too; three kills, six aces, 12 service points and two assists.

Adding to the attack was senior Kaye Lynn Sheehan, as she cranked out four kills, two aces, five digs, eight service points and five assists.

Tom Lauta, the Shenandoah Valley coach, said the difference from the previous meeting was a set lineup.

“We just weren’t set in our starting lineup,” he said. “Our kids kept their heads in the game. To tell you the truth, we had five or six games that we played well against some very competitive teams.”

Weatherly was clinging to a 20-17 lead in the opening set, before its rivals quickly came to life tying the game 24-24 behind Labosky. They clinched the set win using back-to-back kills — one each by Angelique Zamadio and Aubrie Monaghan.

In set two, the Wreckers seemed to regain its balance and momentum, and got some stellar play from the hands of Abby Teodorescu, Kaiya Kunkle and Abby Binder late in the set for the equalizer.

In the third set, the Blue Devils got an early sendoff to take a 10-4 lead, before they picked up the win on an unforced error. It was a similar breakout for Shenandoah in the fourth set, breezing on top 21-12. But with the heart of a lion, Weatherly completely regrouped and came soaring back into the fray. Trailing by nine, it caught fire and closed the gap to 23-20.

A Weatherly service error gave the Devils set point, 24-20, then killed off the Wreckers’ chances as Brittany Tufts registered the game’s final point with a kill at the net.

RECORDS ... Weatherly is now 4-11 overall on the season, 1-10 in the league. Shenandoah is 1-14 and 1-10.

WHAT’S LEFT ... The Wreckers will play their remaining five matches during a seven-day stretch next week.