A Tuesday night match in front of a pink-out crowd spurred the Powell Panthers past 4A opposition — defeating Sheridan 3-1 to give the Panthers momentum heading into a big home weekend.

POWELL 3, SHERIDAN 1

(25-19, 25-10, 22-25, 25-20)

A slower than expected start for the Panthers (17-4 overall, 3-0 3A Northwest) gave the Broncs (9-13 overall, 1-2 4A Northeast) an early lead.

Sheridan maintained the early lead and pushed it to 14-11, before Powell took control of the first set — gaining the lead at 16-15 and earning another point before forcing a Sheridan timeout.

That advantage quickly grew, and Powell won the first set 25-19.

“We ended up pulling it out in that first set,” coach Lesli Spencer said. “Volleyball is a game of runs — they have found a way to fight their way back on some of the losing runs they get into.”

The second set started smoothly for the Panthers, forcing timeouts from Sheridan after holding 5-1 and 12-3 leads.

Continuing to push forward the Panthers grew the advantage out to as large as 18-3, before Sheridan tried to rally, but it wasn’t enough and Powell ultimately finished the set 25-10.

After the second set the Broncs got back in the match, taking advantage of some poor serving stretches by the Panthers to take a 14-9 lead before forcing a Powell timeout.

That lead grew out to 20-13, before a late Powell rally pulled the set within a few points.

Ultimately Sheridan won 25-22 and forced a fourth set.

“In that third set it was a struggle,” Spencer said. “For the match we were 88% (serving percentage) so it was still close to our goal. We were able to make up in other areas to make it close, and they were still playing hard.”

In the fourth set Powell once again jumped out to an early lead, building it to 13-4 before Sheridan started to work its way back into the match.

Sheridan cut it to 21-18 before forcing a Powell timeout.

The Panthers were able to recover in time and held off the late charge to win the set 25-20 and take the match 3-1.

“Every win is a good win,” Spencer said.

Addy Thorington led with 18 kills and 10 aces, Alexa Richardson had 18 digs while Stevee Walsh had 15 assists, ahead of Catelynn Floy with 10.

HOME CONFERENCE DUALS

After the match Tuesday the Panthers will turn their attention back to 3A competition this weekend, welcoming in every 3A West team for the 3A West conference duals on Friday and Saturday at Powell High School.

Powell is the No. 3-ranked team in the WyoPreps Coaches and Media Poll, and will be squaring off with several other ranked teams this weekend.

“We have the best weekend coming up,” Spencer said. “We will be playing at a higher level and we are excited about that.”

Matches will start with junior varsity followed by varsity for every contest.

The Panthers will start with Pinedale at noon (11-12-1 overall, 1-2 3A Southwest) followed by No. 2-ranked Mountain View (18-6-1 overall, 3-0 3A Southwest) at 3 p.m. on Friday.

That will be followed by a matchup with No. 5-ranked Lyman (16-8 overall, 2-1 3A Southwest) on Saturday at 9 a.m. before finishing the weekend with Lander (6-14 overall, 0-3 3A Southwest) at 3 p.m.

“We’ve got two tough teams on Friday, another tough team Saturday and you never know what Lander is going to do,” Spencer said. “We know when you’re tired you’ve got to go back to your discipline and your basics.”

All matches for Powell will be played in the auxiliary gym.

POWELL 3, SHERIDAN 1

(25-19, 25-10, 22-25, 25-20)

Total blocks then solo blocks in ()

Kills — Addy Thorington 18, Waycee Harvey 5, Saige Kidd 5, Catelynn Floy 5, Stevee Walsh 2, Haylee Akin 1

Assists — Stevee Walsh 15, Catelynn Floy 10, Waycee Harvey 4, Alexa Richardson 2, Addy Thorington 2, Kodee Asay 1

Digs — Alexa Richardson 18, Catelynn Floy 9, Waycee Harvey 8, Addy Thorington 8, Stevee Walsh 4, Haylee Akin 2, Saige Kidd 2, Kodee Asay 2, Kenzie Fields 2

Blocks — Saige Kidd 2, Addy Thorington 1, Waycee Harvey .5, Catelynn Floy .5

Aces — Addy Thorington 10, Waycee Harvey 3, Alexa Richardson 3, Saige Kidd 2, Catelynn Floy 2