Putnam County settled for fourth place in the Tri-County Conference Tournament.

The Lady Panthers fell to Woodland 21-25, 25-19, 25-19 in the third-place match of the TCC tournament on Thursday, Oct. 13 at Seneca

Leading the way for the Panthers (13-11-3) were their two all-tournament selections — Maggie Richetta with 14 kills and Tori Balma with 24 assists and three kills.

PC def. Henry-Senachwine 19-25, 26-24, 25-17: The No. 4 seeded Lady Panthers dropped the first set and trailed 21-7 in the second before rallying to defeat No. 5 seed Mallards in their first tournament game on Monday, Oct. 10.

PC tipped with success in the first set, but six service errors and Henry’s adjustment to tipping itself helped the Mallards turn a 10-9 edge into a 21-16 margin on a kill by Abby Stanbary.

Although PC raced to leads of 9-4 and 13-6, four points by Stanbary later tied it at 15 before a big block and then a kill by Richetta helped close the set.

“I honestly don’t think they had a chance once we got a pass and ran an offense,” PC coach Amy Bell said. “In the first set, we were helter-skelter and out of system a ton. My setter was not touching the ball as much as she normally does, so we had to tip. … When we started getting passes where they were supposed to be, we could run a quick offense and swing aggressively. Honestly, as the match went on, we really just settled in.

“I always say that the matches on days when the girls are not in school are the toughest ones. We slept through the first set, but then we woke up and became the aggressive team I’ve seen all year.”

In the third game, Ava Hatton’s eight-point service run opened a 15-9 Panthers lead. A Talur Homann kill got Henry as close as 20-16 before a pair of Richetta aces ended the threat.

“Over the weekend, we didn’t block well and did close out blocks, so that was our goal tonight because when we do, the result is a lot of tipping,” Henry coach Rita Self said. “That was the case, we expected it and adjusted to it, but we just weren’t smart in all scenarios. We weren’t taking advantage of matchups when we got down, keeping the ball away from their bigger girls in certain rotations.

“We don’t see a lot of the quicks run very successfully and we didn’t block them at all at the end. I guess we weren’t prepared for those.”

Marquette def. PC 25-16, 27-25: Tori Balma had seven assists, five digs, three kills, three points, two aces and two blocks Wednesday, Oct. 12 as PC fell to No. 1 Marquette in the TCC semifinals.

Avery Moutray added eight digs, two points, an ace and a kill.

PC fifth at Mendota: The Panthers beat Peoria Christian 25-14, 25-13 to take fifth place in the Mendota Tournament on Saturday, Oct. 15. In pool play, PC lost to Forreston (25-22, 25-17) and Rockford Christian 25-16, 25-17 while splitting with Ottawa (25-8, 23-25).

Balma had 55 assists, 25 digs, 21 kills, 15 points and two aces for the Panthers, while Richetta contributed 33 kills, 16 digs, 16 points, five aces and four blocks.

Balma surpassed 1,000 career assists during the tournament.