College Park - Perryville's bid for a state championship in girls volleyball was spiked by the powerful Smithsburg Leopards, who won their third straight Maryland Class 1A state title Saturday, breezing to an easy three-game sweep.
The scores were 25-3, 25-13 and 25-14 in a match that was over in 50 minutes inside Ritchie Coliseum.
For the Panthers, the power of Smithsburg was more than they could handle and it was evident early.
Sarah Shives served the Leopards to an 11-1 lead, with Perryville's lone point coming on Emily Merklinger's block.
A couple of aces, three double touches by Perryville and the kills of Smithsburg's Danielle Harbaugh put the Panthers in a 17-1 hole.
The other points for the Panthers, who finished 14-6 on the season, came on Smithsburg errors - a hit out of bounds and a serve into the net.
"It was the game of our lives that we never expected," Sara Farnham, Perryville's head coach, said. "We haven't played anybody the entire season like that."
In game two, the Panthers got into the action a bit better, but Smithsburg also played a bit sloppy. Merklinger had two kills, while Mycalah Bryant and Ange Thompson added a kill each.
In game three, the Panthers did lead early, but not again. The Panthers stayed close on two kills by Thompson, one by Merklinger, a block by Bryant and aces by Bryant and Kayla Tome.
Thompson led with four kills and Sam Kreiner added six digs. Rebekah Conway had three aces.