 The Park Rabbits volleyball team made history last week, becoming the first team in school history to win a section title for volleyball. Now they're preparing to make some noise at the state tournament. It was a result that took years to build to, falling in the section championship game last year, but the Panthers are finally headed for state. I mean it's been the goal for a couple seasons now, so it feels good that we were the team that did it. It finally kind of seems more real right after the game, it didn't really feel that real, but now that we're actually coming closer and closer to going down to state, I guess it's just becoming more and more exciting. The support they've gotten all season has amplified since their win, and there was a big send off this morning at the high school. Everybody has been super supportive and nice about it, and they're just showing how proud they are of us, and it feels really awesome that we've impressed so many people and we have so many people supporting us. Their first-round opponent, third-seeded Marshall, making their seventh state appearance this decade. I mean Marshall is one of those Goliath programs, and they have experience at state. They have the personnel every year consistently. They're a hard team, and they execute their shots very well, so the hardest thing for us is to be able to do the same and really keep the ball up and on our side so that we can attack fast at them. In her lose come Thursday, the coaches glad that they've finally been rewarded for all the hours they've put in over the years. What I was hoping they would take from all of this is that hard work does pay off. I know our first practice t-shirt we had was it's not going to be easy, but it's going to be worth it. It's just nice that there's a reality there that we can celebrate. And as we mentioned, they will be taking on Marshall tomorrow night. That game is streaming on live, and we'll have your highlights at the 10 o'clock news. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.