The Bonney Lake Panthers volleyball team heads to the state tournament this weekend after a second-place finish at districts Nov. 3.

Bonney Lake went into this past weekend’s District 3/4 3A tournament as the No. 1 seed and opened with a 3-2 win Friday night over Kennedy Catholic.

On Saturday, the Panthers first took on No. 4 seed Prairie, who beat Timberline the night before.

Bonney Lake won the first game 25-22 and the second 25-20 and appeared well on their way to the final round, but Prairie turned it around and made a match of it, winning game three 25-20 and cruising to a 25-16 win in game four to force a deciding game 5.

But the Panthers stayed strong and battled to a 15-10 win in the final game to win the match and advance to play No. 6 seed Columbia City in the finals.

But unfortunately for the Panthers, the battle with Prairie took a little bit out of them and Chieftans out of Vancouver, who rolled over Auburn Mountainview 3-0 on their way to the finals, were able to get the best of Bonney Lake in three straight games, 25-19, 25-22 and 25-13.

Next up for the Panthers is the state tournament, which begins Friday at Saint Martin’s University in Lacey. Bonney Lake begins play against Holy Names Academy, with the winner advancing to the quarterfinals.