They practice the three-man weave. Then they pass the white ball up and down the court until the last girl sets the ball for her teammate to put the ball into the basket.

Why does Palmerton’s coach Marsha Thomas utilize basketball drills during her volleyball team’s practices at the high school?

They have no net.

“There are no holes drilled for the posts that would hold the net,” she explained. “Sometimes we practice serve over an imaginary net and I use my judgment and say, ‘I think that would’ve been too low and the ball wouldn’t have gone over the net.’”

Thomas began the Palmerton volleyball program two years ago and immediately found that there would be no home court for her team. The district is currently planning to install a new gym floor, so it makes no sense to put down volleyball court lines or drill post holes on the existing floor.

“The junior high has holes and markings, but they are not regulation dimensions,” said Thomas.

“Lehighton’s AD, Kyle Spotts, and volleyball coach TJ O’Connor, graciously offered us their middle school gym last summer, so we bused our kids over there two times a week in August at whatever times the gym was available.”

During this season, Palmerton, currently with a record of 2-8, practices every Wednesday at Lehighton from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Thomas, who works for Highwood USA in Hazleton, must juggle her work time along with getting her own kids off to school to be present at both practices and games.

“I have a great bunch of girls and they’re happy just to play, but having no home games wears them down, especially when they have to ride a bus somewhere six days a week,” she said. “We have a great fan base of parents and students who try to make most of our games.”

Thomas has come up with an idea to have one actual home game against Catasauqua on Oct. 10 at the junior high school as a special tribute to the two seniors on her team.

A league official would have to authenticate the dimensions of the court, but Thomas is not concerned if the game is official.

“Catasauqua has agreed to play us there, even if the dimensions are off and the game is not official,” Thomas said. “We’ll have to put padding around the posts for obvious safety reasons, but we intend to play. Catty was the first team we beat, and when I called Andrew (Remsing), our AD, after the match, I kiddingly asked him, ‘Do we get a home court now?’”

Thomas sees the difficulties of traveling to every practice and game as an experience that will benefit the group beyond their playing days. She could relate to when she played basketball on a team that had a 2-24 record with her homeless volleyball team.

“You learn that you can’t always win and you can’t always get what you want in life, so you have to make the best of what you have.”

For the record, Palmerton is designated as the home team in half of its scheduled matches.

A volleyball game begins with a coin toss to decide who serves and who receives.

Then if there’s a deciding set, the home team gets to choose which side of the net they prefer.

“What that means is there really is no home advantage, unless you consider the loud cheering from the home school’s crowd,” said Thomas.

Thomas and her team are just beginning the history of Palmerton volleyball that someday they hope will have their gym filled with cheering fans at a court they can finally call home.

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BURKE’S BEST WEEK ... Palmerton’s Sayler Burke became the school’s all-time leading field hockey scorer with her 29th goal last Wednesday. She added to the record with two hat tricks in back-to-back days, and now has 35 career goals. The Bombers won 4-2 against Salisbury Friday, and added a 7-0 win over Notre Dame-ES Saturday. Burke’s record week came to a halt Monday in a 0-0 tie with Northwestern.

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OVERTIME GALORE ... The Tamaqua Blue Raiders boys soccer team had two overtime contests, including a double-overtime match against Pottsville last Friday, where Michael Shlanta was the big hero, scoring the game-winning goal. Shlanta wasn’t the only Blue Raider player with late-game heroics. Junior Nathaniel Noftz registered three goals last week and delivered the final blow to Blue Mountain Monday with an overtime score as the Blue Raiders improved to 6-1 on the season.

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HARRIERS IN HERSHEY ... Northern Lehigh’s Reagan Pender had an outstanding showing at the Foundation Cross Country Invitational in Hershey last Saturday.

The junior finished second out of 146 runners in the Class 1A race with a time of 20:17. Other Bulldogs to compete included Katie Guelcher (64th) and Ali Lorah (76th).

In that same race, Marian’s Nicole Capparell ran a 21:30 to place 11th.

In the girls 2A race, Northwestern’s Madeline Consuelos finished 23rd with a time of 21:14. Teammates Sarah Supplee (25th in 21:22), Kailyn Jones (31st in 21:38) and Alyssa Zack (48th in 22:05) also placed in the top 50.

Weatherly’s Scott Zoscin competed in the boys 1A race and crossed the finish line in 35th place with a time of 18:30.

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PLEASANT VALLEY FRIDAY ... Matt Erhardt recorded a hat trick in last Friday’s boys soccer match against Whitehall and connected for the winning score in overtime for a 4-3 PV victory. The Bears also took down Easton and Jim Thorpe last week and are 9-2 this season. The Bears are scheduled to face Freedom this week before squaring off against Pocono rivals for five of their last six regular season games.

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HAT TRICK FEVER ... There were a lot of hat tricks recorded in numerous sports in the Times News area over the last week. It began with Erhardt’s hat trick in boys soccer, followed by Northern Lehigh’s Jada Mills scoring three goals in a field hockey game against Northwestern last Friday. Burke added two consecutive hat tricks in as many days, and Tamaqua’s Jacob Rudy had a big week with five goals, three of which came in a boys soccer contest against Palmerton Saturday. The final hat trick belonged to Jim Thorpe’s Alex Putt in a 5-0 boys soccer win over Pottsville Monday.

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STILL PERFECT ... The Panther Valley volleyball team remained undefeated after victories against Pottsville, Tamaqua and Marian. The Panthers now own a 9-0 record, including 8-0 in the Schuylkill League. Pleasant Valley suffered its first loss last Wednesday against Nazareth, but rebounded against Dieruff Monday. The Bears are now 10-2-1 overall and 6-2 in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference.

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11 WINS AND COUNTING ... Jim Thorpe’s girls tennis team amassed a school-record 11th win in a match over Allen. The 11-win season is one victory better than the 2007 Olympians squad compiled.