It was all orange and black in the Panther gym last week as the Lady Panthers demolished Cody for their first volleyball conference win of the season.The Lady Panthers put together a dominating performance, flashing their skill in every phase of the game to take the Fillies in three games, 25-13, 25-14, 25-17.

The teams traded points in the opening set until, with the score tied at six, the Lady Panthers began to take over.

Two blocks and a Cody net foul built a 10-6 lead and Cody was never able to respond as the Lady Panthers dominated the net with blocks by Savannah Donarski, Kami Cooley, Randi Asay and Olivia Rogers and went on a 15-7 run to take the match. Kills by Donarski and a serving ace by Asay brought the Lady Panthers to game point and a Hannah Pollart kill ended the game.

The Panthers scored the first point in game two off Cody's serve, with Pollart making the kill, to take a big 22-7 lead before Cody managed a 6-1 run to close the gap to 23-13. Cooley tipped the ball over the net off a block for the 24th point before Cody took back the serve, but Donarski slammed a Kayla Ando pass down for game point.

The Fillies made a game of it early in game three with a four-point run, their longest of the match, that gave them a 10-6 lead. But a long hit gave a side-out to Powell and the Lady Panthers racked up five straight points off Donarski's serve to take the lead.

With the score tied 12-12, Pollart stepped to the service line and dished out a series of jump serves that Cody couldn't handle, and the Lady Panthers built a 20-12 lead before losing the serve. Cody responded with three straight points, but again served long at 21-16. A block by Donarski and Cooley, and a kill by Donarski made the score 24-17, and a bad pass by Cody as they tried to set up an attack ended the game.

Coach Cindi Smith said the match was an indication that her team's game is coming together. The Lady Panthers showed “lots of balance” in the match Smith said, and their teamwork was excellent. She noted several strong points in the team's performance, particularly in receiving serves and their net play, which she called phenomenal.

“We did a nice job on service receive. We have a good corps of service receivers,” she said.

Smith's assessment was borne out by the fact that Cody did not score a service ace during the match.

The team's performance in the midst of homecoming activities was also a plus, Smith said.

“It was good to be able to compete well with all that's going on this week,” she said. “We had good focus, and the girls did a good job of keeping their composure.”

With their first conference win under their belts, the Lady Panthers will go on the road looking for two more as they gun for their third straight north conference championship. Thursday they will be in Lander to take on the Lady Tigers, and Saturday, they'll visit the Worland Lady Warriors.

Thursday's match is scheduled for 5:45 p.m. and the Lady Panthers will take the court at 12:30 p.m. in Worland.