You never would’ve guessed there was such a gulf between the two districts on the volleyball court when Westfield hosted Panama on Wednesday.

Tied a set apiece and deadlocked 22-22 in the third set, Westfield’s Tanleigh Bestine soared for a thunderous block to put the Wolverines ahead by a point. At that moment, the match could have turned in either favor in an instant.

It was Panama that rose to the challenge.

Behind three straight points to claim the third set, followed by a blowout fourth set to decide the contest, Panama defeated Westfield 24-26, 25-23, 25-23 and 25-7 in a Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association Division 2 West match at Westfield Academy & Central School.

Panama senior Sarah Harvey (8) serves during Wednesday’s volleyball match against the Westfield Wolverines in Westfield. P-J photo by Braden Carmen

“The biggest thing is they didn’t crumble. They stayed together and they kept playing,” said Panama head coach Tammy Hosier. “It was a heck of a volleyball match. At that point, it could have went either way. The fact that we stayed together … they are a true team, and that’s when it counts, right then.”

Wednesday was a rematch from a three-set Panthers victory in Panama on Sept. 11, in which Westfield failed to surpass 17 points in any of its three sets. So when Westfield (8-3, 7-3) fell behind 18-8 in the first set, it seemed like the same old story. But rather than follow the script, the Wolverines stormed back with as impressive a stretch as the program has seen since it returned to the village of Westfield.

“They are a great team, they’re good,” Hosier said of Westfield. “Greg (Birner) is doing a great job building this program up … you can tell, just their improvement from the first time we played them to this game.”

The Wolverines managed eight straight points, including seven straight points with Drew Ernewein on serve to force Panama (12-1, 10-0) to call timeout, leading only by a pair.

Westfield kept battling out of the timeout and managed to even the score at 22-all with Bestine on serve. The next four points were split evenly, but at 24-24, Westfield closed out the set for a potentially program-defining first-set victory.

Westfield’s Tanleigh Bestine (6) and Alina Franklin (1) celebrate during Wednesday’s volleyball match against the Panama Panthers at Westfield Academy & Central School. P-J photo by Braden Carmen

“When we got down in a hole, we were not playing our game. We were on defense,” Hosier said. ” … If we’re not running our offense, we’re going to pay for it — and we were paying for it.”

The second set began with a pair in Panama’s favor, but Westfield took control with the next eight points, as senior Keara Kincaid helped the Wolverines pull ahead 8-2. Panama responded with a run of its own, with seven straight points to claim a 9-8 lead with Kiera Loberg on serve.

After the sizable runs from each side early in the set, the two teams remained within three points the entire rest of the set. Sydney Hotchkiss was on serve as Westfield tied the second set at 15-15, then the Wolverines pulled to back within a point, down 22-21, with Bestine on serve. But the Panthers held off the Wolverines to even the score at a set apiece.

After each set was decided by just two points, why would the third set be any different?

Following the first six points of the third set splitting evenly at three for each side, Westfield claimed a 10-4 lead with seven of the next eight points. Westfield extended its lead to 18-10 in the third set, in search of an upset the Wolverines would remember forever.

But Panama didn’t play along.

The Panthers clawed back with 10 of the next 12 points to even the score at 20-all. The two sides split the next four points to set up a fight for the third set at a deadlocked 22-22 score.

After the volleyball struck Bestine’s hands at the net, the sound echoing through the gym was followed by a ferocious roar from the senior who has been along for the entire ride as Westfield’s program returned home. The Wolverines needed two more points for a 2-1 lead over the former multi-time state finalist.

The term “blue bloods” is usually reserved for college basketball royalty, but Panama’s championship DNA showed itself on Wednesday with the Panthers’ response with the contest in the balance.

“You always have to keep playing. You can never give up. … You have to keep playing strong and you have to be a team. That’s been my message all year,” Hosier said. “I’ve had teams before that would have crumbled.”

Once Panama tallied the final three points of the third set for a 2-1 advantage heading into the fourth set, the entire mood of the contest shifted.

“We had to get more of a run and keep that momentum on our side,” Hosier said. “They responded, so that was great.”

The Panthers rode the momentum to a dominant fourth set showing that featured 11 of the first 12 points in Panama’s favor. After running away with the lead 11-1, Panama scored 14 of the final 20 points to seal the victory.

“That last game was all about momentum. It’s hard to get it back once you go down a bunch, especially against that good of a program. You’ve just got to take that lump and move on,” Westfield head coach Greg Birner said.

Westfield was led by Kincaid’s 14 kills, five blocks, four aces and three digs, while Bestine tallied 14 assists, six kills, three blocks, two aces and two digs.

“Passing was good throughout most of the game, sometimes it would let us down. Service errors caught up to us in those last couple of games,” Birner said.

Kiera Loberg had a stellar performance for Panama, with 20 assists and 20 digs, along with five kills, a pair of aces and a total of 18 points to her credit. Sarah Harvey racked up 16 digs, seven kills, there aces and a block.

Kylie Morgan led the Panthers with 13 kills and seven blocks, along with three digs and an ace. Steph Hovey had 14 digs to go with an ace and a kill. Kaitlyn Horton had five blocks and four kills, while Emma Cooper had five kills and two digs.

Up next, Panama hits the road to face Clymer/Sherman next Wednesday. Westfield travels to Chautauqua Lake on Friday.

“We’re good, but we’ve got to get better,” Birner said. ” … Our goal is to make a push in the Section VI playoffs. I think today we proved to ourselves that we can do it, but we’re not where we need to be yet.”