The Centralia Panther volleyball team continued its perfect start to the 2018 season Saturday with a first place finish in the Hiawatha Invitational defeating Atchison in the championship match.

The Panthers, ranked No. 1 in Class 1A, opened up the tournament by going 4-0 in pool play, starting with a two-set win over Lafayette 25-11 and 25-14 in the first match of the day. Centralia followed that up with three more two-set wins taking down Riverside, Troy and Hiawatha.

The four wins pushed the Panthers into the semifinals where they took on Bishop Seabury, and once again Centralia remained perfect winning in straight sets 25-20, 25-16.

Centralia didn’t stop their run there, as the Panthers captured the tournament championship taking down Atchison easily in two sets by scores of 25-14, 25-8.

The Lady Red got to the title match by also going 4-0 in pool play, raking up two set wins over Jefferson County North, Bishop Seabury, Doniphan West and Horton.

Atchison then found themselves in a tough semifinal match against Lafayette, but the Lady Red pulled through for a three set victory winning 20-25, 25-23 and 25-18.

The 6-0 mark in the tournament pushed Centralia to a perfect 19-0 on the season, as the Panthers have dropped just one set all season long.

Atchison meanwhile moved to 15-5 on the season with the 5-1 day and have now finished second in back-to-back tournaments.