The Bonney Lake volleyball squad, which sat atop the South Puget Sound League 3A standings for most of the regular season, now finds itself in a nightmarish situation of limping around on the threshold of the postseason after a trio of its better players recently sustained potentially season-ending knee injuries.

Now, the luckless contingent will have no other recourse but to stagger in to this Saturday’s subdistrict tournament at Auburn Mountainview High School at less than 100 percent efficiency.

The chinks in the Panther armor began to appear early last week when Bonney Lake hosted Auburn Mountainview.

The Lions’ surprisingly swept the hobbled Bonney Lake bunch in straight sets Oct. 18, winning 5-12, 25-11, 25-9.

Bonney Lake didn’t panic and took out its frustrations out on winless Decatur two days later, blowing the Gators out of the water 25-7, 25-12 and 25-17.

Heading into subdistricts Saturday as the No. 2 seed out of the SPSL 3A, the Panthers had one more league contest on their schedule, hosting the rejuvenated Enumclaw squad Tuesday night.