(photo courtesy of @RV337 twitter)

Royal Valley Panthers pounced on a great performance on Saturday in their final regular season tournament action competing at the Abilene Invitational and finishing third. 

Panthers got the action rolling with pool play action were they finished second in Pool B going 2-1. Wins came against Rossville and Ellsworth on the day as the Panthers needed three sets to take down Rossville 25-19, 24-26, 25-9, while beating Ellsworth in straight sets 25-13, 25-15. The loss in pool play came against Salina Central who beat Royal Valley in straight sets 11-25, 20-25. 

After a second place finish in pool play the Panthers advanced to the Semifinals were they faced Topeka who won the other pool. The contest was a tough three set battle but Topeka won taking the second and third set over the Panthers (25-22, 23-25, 13-25). 

With the loss the Panthers moved into the third place contest and meet up with Salina Central for the second time on the day and Royal Valley got revenge for the loss earlier in the day winning in three sets 25-22, 17-25, 25-15 to take third place. 

The Panthers have a Big Seven League showdown with Hiawatha looming to wrap up the regular season on Tuesday, October 17th and then will gear up for Sub-State action in Class 3A set to compete at Mission Valley on Saturday, October 21st.