When play began on Thursday, all four Mid Hudson Athletic League volleyball division leaders were unbeaten.

That number dropped to three on Thursday night, when the Wallkill Panthers swept the Our Lady of Lourdes Warriors out of the Vinnie DeAngelis Gymnasium with a 3-0 victory in a battle between Division I and II leaders.

The Panthers won the match, 25-11, 25-14, 25-18.

“I think we were overall really prepared for this game,” said senior captain Katelyn Jordy, who had eight kills, seven digs and an ace. “We knew that this was going to be good competition coming into this. I think, overall, we were really grounded and ready to play.”

Grace Mesuch had one kill, 15 assists, six digs and an ace, while Hannah Steward added an assist, 12 digs and four aces. Genevieve Pollack had eight kills, four assists, 10 digs and an ace. Regan Moeykens had seven kills, five digs and two aces.

“I was really happy with our serving, aggressiveness and consistency,” Wallkill coach Julie Michella said. “Just the fact that we were able to take Lourdes in three sets was a really big positive because they are a very good program. They’re very well coached. By the way they were playing, they do a really good job. So, it was nice for us to be able to do that.”

All three sets had a similar pace as both teams battled early in the set before Wallkill started pulling away.

The Panthers had a three-point lead when Mesuch went to the service line, and when her run ended, the Panthers took the first set, 25-11.

The Warriors led the second set 10-8, but the Panthers tied things up with Jordy at the service line. Madisen Noelizaire delivered a kill and a block to give the Panthers an 11-10 lead. They never trailed in the set again and took a 21-14 set before the Warriors fell apart.

Hannah Stewart had three straight aces that just landed between Our Lady of Lourdes players, as Warriors coach Joe Felipe subbed frantically to find someone who could receive Stewart’s serve.

The Panthers finished off the second set, 25-14, when Nicolette Pinelo’s return ball fell short, putting the Warriors on the brink of losing.

The Panthers weren’t taking anything for granted.

“We always say that just because they played like that one set doesn’t mean that they’re going to play like that again,” Jordy said. “The errors that they made, they were going to try to fix those and come back firing at us the way we came at them.”

The teams were even until a serve by Jordy and a tip by Pollack gave the Panthers the lead, and eventually took an 8-4 lead. The Warriors closed the gap to three points three times before an ace from Stewart gave Wallkill an 18-9 lead.

The softer game proved helpful for the Panthers, as they were able to tip the ball over the net to find gaps in the Warriors’ defense.

“Switching up our attacking strategy seems to work fine,” Michella said. “Swinging hard a bunch of times, and then throwing a tip every now and again usually will help your attacks to fall.”

The victory gave the Panthers not only their 10th straight win with four matches remaining, but it’s also their fourth straight sweep. The Panthers have only been taken to four sets twice, the September 1 season-opening win over Pine Bush and a 3-1 non-win league over the Monroe-Woodbury Crusaders.

Now, the Panthers will head into the second wave of their MHAL Division I schedule with home matches against FDR and Saugerties, and a regular season-ending match against the New Paltz Huguenots. They will also visit Minisink Valley in a non-league match.

“We’re such a close group,” Jordy said. “We’re all friends on and off the court and in school. We’re all really close friends. There’s no drama between any of us and we’re all very helpful to each other. We’re just great teammates to each other.”