CARY - The Green Hope volleyball team swept Panther Creek 3-0 Thursday afternoon in a clash of two of the Tri-Nine Conference's top three teams from a year ago. The Falcons took games one and two by three points each before winning game three, 25-14.

Green Hope (6-1, 5-0) is one of two Tri-Nine teams still unbeaten in conference play, sharing that distinction with Apex.

Panther Creek coach Bonnie O'Connor said the biggest thing her young team needs to improve on has nothing to do with execution or effort.

"I have a really young team," O'Connor said. "There's not one senior in the starting lineup. There are two sophomores in the starting lineup. It's the mental part of the game that my girls have to work on. I see our future getting bright. It's still early in the season and we have a lot to do, but I can teach them how to pass, I can teach them how to set and I can teach them how to hit. They have to believe they can win. My team doesn't know how good it is. We are very good, but the players have to believe that they are good."

In the match's first game, both teams traded points until arriving at a 15-all tie. Green Hope took six of the next eight points for a 21-17 lead, then held on to win game one, 25-22.

Game two was another tightly contested affair until a Panther Creek (5-1, 2-1) surge gave the Catamounts a 17-13 lead and put them in position to even the overall score at one game apiece. First-year Green Hope coach Karl Redelfs then called what proved to be a game-altering timeout to remind his players of what they had recently practiced.

"It's kind of funny because just the practice before I was like, 'Hey guys, we can expect to be down some games,'" Redelfs said. "So we spent probably 20 minutes practicing that scenario where we were down four points. And I made it even tougher, where it was like 23-19. And whoever lost had to do pushups and running, that kind of thing. I just reminded them of that and it connected, and they got that intensity back up."

Before that timeout, Green Hope had scored 38 total points and Panther Creek had 39 through game one and the then-completed portion of game two. After delivering his message, Redelf's team outscored Panther Creek 37-19 the rest of the way. The Falcons finished game two by outscoring Panther Creek 12-5 for the 25-22 decision, then romped in a conclusive game three in which they built an early lead that swelled to as large as 19-4.

No player had more to do with the Falcons' late dominance than 6-4 junior Christina Vucich, who has committed to play volleyball for Duke. Vucich took over in game three, recording several kills before serving on 12 straight Falcon points that quickly took the score from 7-4 to 19-4, Green Hope.

"She really took over," Redelfs said. "I expect the rest of the team to come up to her level. I try to push them in practice as much as I can and say as often as I can, 'there is going to be a day when there's going to be blockers on the right side and Christina is not going to get every single kill, and you guys are going to have to step up.' But having her is great. She is always a very good outlet to go to."

But Panther Creek refused to let Green Hope coast to the sweep. Down 2-0 overall and by 15 points in game three, the Catamounts mounted a 9-2 run to shrink the Falcons' cushion to 21-13.

"We didn't totally give up in the third set," O'Connor said. "We really put ourselves behind, but coming back showed we could still fight."

Green Hope regrouped and staved off the comeback to take game three, 25-14 and sweep the match. One area where Redelfs said he would like to see his team improve is in the middle.

"Our middles are extremely weak," Redelfs said. "They were getting blocks today, which I was extremely impressed with. But as far as attacking, our middles are very weak and inconsistent in the center, so that's what we will work a lot on."

Green Hope will host Apex on Thursday in a battle for first place in the Tri-Nine.