PHS volleyball swept by Cody, beats Lovell in 5

The Powell Panthers volleyball team battled to a hard-fought five-set win over Lovell Friday to finish the opening week of conference play with a split.

The Panthers came back from a 2-1 Bulldogs lead to take the win, and it gave head coach Morgan Kistler a big morale boost following a disappointing loss to Cody on Thursday.

“The girls showed a lot of character and a lot of heart,” Kistler said. “They fought back and that was great.”

Powell played hard against Cody, and stayed close in the first set, but the Fillies nursed a small lead until midway through the set when they built a cushion. The Powell girls kept trying to come back, but were never able to put a run together, and the Fillies took a 1-0 lead with a 25-18 win.

Set two was much the same, as the teams traded points until the score was knotted 8-8. At that point, Cody began a 10-5 streak and then scored five consecutive points to build a 23-13 lead on the way to a 25-15 win.

The Panthers looked as though they might come back in the third set when they took a 13-3 lead, but Cody came back with a 16-point run to regain control. The Panthers kept battling, though, tying the score three times, until, with the score tied at 20, they only managed one more point and Cody finished the sweep with a 25-21 win.

“The Cody rivalry may have been a distraction,” Kistler said of the loss. “I think they were too amped up for the game. It seemed like we were a half-beat short during the match.”

Despite the loss, though, Kistler said the girls had played hard.

The Lovell match opened auspiciously for the Panthers, who built a lead early in the first set with strong play at the net and held off several Bulldog comeback attempts to open the match with a 25-17 win.

Lovell came back hard in the next two sets. The Bulldogs back line consistently fended off Powell attacks and their front line picked up a number of blocks. The Panthers stayed close throughout both sets, but Lovell took a 2-1 lead with wins of 25-22 and 25-20. Both games featured some long rallies and difficult digs by both teams.

“Lovell is a very good team, and they play well together,” Kistler said. “They never give up on a ball,” she added, referring to several plays when Bulldog players went after balls way out of bounds and kept them in play. 

Set four was another hard-fought game, as girls on both sides of the net made diving digs to keep the ball from hitting the floor. Panthers on the back line made several difficult digs in response to attacks by Lovell’s tough front line that were crucial to the set-four win. Another key to the Panthers’ success was staying with balls blocked at the net by either team, some of which dropped straight down, and required extra effort to keep the ball in play. 

In one rally, with the ball falling close to the net, Kinsey Ashby dove and, while flat on the floor, got her hand under the ball to keep it in play. The ball bounced off her hand just high enough for Nikkole Schneider to go down for it and pop it higher so a teammate could send it over the net.

“The girls made plays I didn’t expect them to make,” Kistler said. “Schneider had a great game. She got to passes I’d never seen her get to before.”

The set was close until Powell, leading 23-22, gained a sideout and scored set point when Lovell failed to return a hit by Breanna Donarski, sending the match to the fifth set.

The Panthers played a nearly flawless fifth set, grabbing a lead early and avoiding any unforced errors. They scored with power hits and with soft hits to open spots and never let Lovell build any momentum while taking the match with a 15-8 win.

“They played as perfect a game as I could ask,” Kistler said. “They all had the same focus and the same goal and they reached it.”

Kistler said it was critical for the Panthers to forget the previous night’s loss to Cody in order to rebound against Lovell.

“They need to put their mistakes out of their minds,” Kistler said. “I saw a lot of girls doing that.”

After the match, Donarski said the win following the Cody match showed the Panthers were getting better.

 “We showed a lot of improvement and a lot of heart, and we really bounced back from (Thursday) night,” Donarski said.

Donarski, the team’s floor captain, said the Panthers would continue to work hard and focus on getting better at their game.

“We’re going to keep trying to grow and improve and get to the final spot where we want to be,” she said.

The Panthers will host the Worland Warriors on Thursday. Game time is scheduled for 6 p.m., following freshmen and JV competition. Powell will travel over the mountain on Saturday to take on the Buffalo Bison. That match is scheduled for 3 p.m. at Buffalo High School.