If you look at the small picture, Catholic High’s chance at winning the Division III, District 4 championship took a hit Tuesday as the Lady Panthers dropped at 3-1 (25-19, 17-25, 25-14, 25-22) decision to rival E.D. White Tuesday.

But if you look at the larger picture, as CHS coach Erin Robison did after the match, the Lady Panthers took a major stride towards a deep playoff run for later in the year.

“We’re disappointed in the loss but the way the girls played, the way they hung in there, we’re not disappointed,” said Robison. “We wanted the ‘W’ but it was a good game.

Allison Lahasky of Catholic High spikes the ball against E.D. White on Tuesday. - Lee Ball / The Daily Iberian Advertisement

“Honestly, I’m telling the girls, it’s not about winning or losing right now, we’re getting ready for state. We know that we’re a good enough team to make the playoffs.

“As much as we would like the district championship, our goals are a little further than that. These games with E.D. White are making us better as a team, win or lose.”

And while in the larger picture the Lady Panthers are gearing up for postseason play, it was the Lady Cardinals who put together enough consistent firepower to come out with the district win Tuesday.

“What a great competitive match,” said E.D. White coach Mary Cavell. “That was some good volleyball played today.

“In our district we’re the two top teams and we’ve been battling for the past two years. Erin does a good job with her program and I’m truly proud of my girls in regards to keeping their composure in playing on an away court.

“This is not an easy place to play and we kept our composure and had really good teamwork.”

In many ways, it was a strange match between the two perennial playoff participants.

E.D. White took control of the first game and won convincingly, 25-19, while Catholic High turned the tables and won the second game just as convincingly, 25-17.

Then the two teams reversed yet a third time as E.D. White took game three, 25-14.

“I couldn’t explain it,” said Robison. “Sometimes we play up, sometimes we play down. That’s one thing that we have to work on, playing at a consistent level.

“I think we just went down in our play in the third game.”

The fourth and deciding game was more of what has become the type of match between the two schools. Neither team held more than a 5-point lead. Catholic High led at the beginning, lost the lead in the middle of the game, then came to within 2 points of forcing a deciding fifth game at 24-22.

“I think that we kind of got down on ourselves,” said Robison. “Every girl played well. I think that we kind of overthought some situations and we thought too deep into it. I think that we played against ourselves a little too much.”

Cavell attributed the win to keeping calm and getting clutch points when needed.

“I think our serving won it today,” said the E.D. White coach. “We were able to pick holes in their serve receive which got them out of their offense. That was one of the biggest turning points for us.”

Allison Lahasky led Catholic High with 11 kills and four blocks. Molly Molbert added five aces, 39 assists, four kills and nine digs, Ariele Bienvenu had seven kills and two aces, Erin Dworaczyk finished with seven kills and four blocks, Kristen Defelice had two aces, Lanie Lissard had eight kills, an ace and a block and Abby Henagan had six kills and two aces.

Catholic High plays host to ESA today.