POTTSVILLE – If anyone was shortchanging Jim Thorpe’s girls volleyball team, it was a mistake.

Coach Stephane Petrucci was full of confidence, and felt every bit that her team was going to knock off Pottsville in this opening matchup of the District 11, Class 3A tournament.

Both teams shared the same record, 15-3. The only difference, Pottsville was coming off a Schuylkill League Championship and seemed to be riding the wave of momentum.

But the way things rolled around, Thorpe was jabbing at the Crimson Tide from the second set, but in the end, Pottsville shook off the feisty Olympians, finally pulling away to win in four sets: 25-20, 25-21, 23-25, 25-16.

The victory sends Pottsville into the second round to face undefeated, No. 3 seed Southern Lehigh, which advanced after knocking off 10th seed Notre Dame of Green Pond.

Petrucci felt her team got out of the gate slowly, even though both teams were in a bit of a slugfest all evening. Thorpe rode the splendid effort of Brooke Mitzen through the first set. Mitzen cranked out her kill attack as she helped bring her team to a 16-16 tie, then momentarily slipped in front 21-19, riding a wave of Brianna Snisky attacks. However, Pottsville ran off the final five points of the set to earn the 25-20 set win.

Then in the second set, the Crimson Tide seemed to get their fast attack in sync. Staring at a 14-11 deficit, the Schuylkill League champions got the wheels in motion. They turned to its power source, Ava Schwartz, Lainey Dusel, and the Brennan sisters, Ryhan and Maggie. That group helped fuel some much-needed energy to take a 22-15 lead before finally getting the set in their favor, 25-16.

Far from out of it, Jim Thorpe found some offensive firepower and stormed right back into the thick of the battle. The Olympians tied the third set 17-17, then quickly surged on top, 21-19, thanks in part to Mitzen, who knocked down a pair of kills. When the Tide committed an unforced error leading to a 24-19 score, the home team didn’t fade, and got to within a point of a tie (24-23), before Mitzen slammed home a kill for the set win 25-23.

“Pottsville played really well, you can’t take that away from them,” Petrucci said. “After the third set, I felt all along that it was our game to win.”

Marie Sherakas, the Pottsville coach, thought her team was in slow-down mode.

“We played slow and had too many mistakes,” Sherakas insisted. “We didn’t control the tempo in the game.”

On the other side of the ledger, Thorpe was driving the Tide daffy. In the fourth set, there were ties at 9-9, 10-10 after a third tie 11-11. Thorpe seemed to catch momentum, rallying to soar in front 14-11, before Pottsville got recharged, getting a big lift from middle hitter Anna Burke. She teamed with Rhyan Brennan to zoom to 22-15, and finally shook free from the Olympians when Schwartz let loose with a monster kill to settle the issue and help advance her team to the semifinals next Monday.

“We got our feet back and the girls got it accomplished,” Sherakas said, lauding her team’s effort.

Thorpe’s coach said she felt her team would win the game.

“I really felt that we would win,” Petrucci said. “We didn’t (play) the way I thought we could play. It’s just a matter of us having a better team approach.”

With just four departing seniors, Petrucci sees some light for next fall.

“I’m excited about what we a do (next year),” she said with a smile, even after a tough defeat.

COUNTING ‘EM UP…. Pottsville’s kill leaders: Burke (11) and 10 blocks, Rhyan Brennan (11) and Dusel (10), while Yost had a monster game 35 assists.