The Powell Panther volleyball team ended its season on a high note Saturday, finishing with a third place trophy at the state tournament in Casper.

The Panthers defeated Torrington 3-1 in the opening round Thursday before a heartbreaking loss to eventual state champion Douglas on Friday 3-2.

Powell rebounded on Saturday with consecutive sweeps over Pinedale and Wheatland to secure third. 

POWELL 3, TORRINGTON 1

(25-13, 25-13, 17-25, 25-21)

Kicking off the state tournament the Panthers (29-8-1) got off to a quick start against the Trailblazers (22-16) in an effort to finish the first match quickly.

Powell started out the match up 8-3 before pushing it out to 12-5 and forcing a Torrington timeout.

Saige Kidd’s kill pushed the lead out to double digits at 16-6 before the Panthers finished the set with a comfortable 25-13 win.

“We talked about taking it one game at a time and trying to keep our energy consistent and focusing on the things on our side,” coach Anna Flitner said. “So in practice this past week we worked on speeding up some of our sets and talked about the things that we’ve done over and over again, like serve-receive, and I think that helped us feel a bit more confident in our skills.”

A closer start in the second set had the Panthers up 9-6, and a strong service run by Addison Holcomb made it 15-9 to force a Torrington timeout.

Leah Graham added to the strong service, pushing the lead to 23-11 before Powell finished the set once again with a 25-13 win.

The third set did not start out as well for the Panthers, as they fell behind early and trailed by as many as 19-9 before a timeout by Flitner.

Powell brought it back as close as 22-16, but the Trailblazers finished the set with a 25-17 win.

“We talked about what the difference was between when things were going really well versus when they kind of had a comeback,” Flitner said. “We started playing more tentatively, and so we talked about being aggressive and swinging hard, that’s when we play best. We tend to make more errors when we’re tentative, and it gives the other team a chance to set up their offense.”

In the fourth, both teams battled back and forth throughout, with Torrington taking the late lead 18-17 after a hit into the net by the Panthers.

Powell went on a small run to take a 20-19 lead after a Catelynn Floy kill to force a Torrington timeout.

Two straight Panther errors gave Torrington the lead and forced a Powell timeout, before the Panthers answered and reclaimed the lead 22-21 after a Kidd kill to force another timeout by Torrington.

Floy and Kidd helped finish the match, and Powell won 25-21.

DOUGLAS 3, POWELL 2

(15-25, 28-26, 21-25, 25-14, 8-15)

The win on Thursday meant the Panthers matched up with the Bearcats (35-4) for the third season in a row and the second consecutive time in the semifinals.

Powell did not start out strong.

Douglas started with a 9-3 lead and forced a Powell timeout.

The Panthers worked their way back into the set, but the Bearcats pushed the lead back out to as much as 18-11 before another Powell timeout.

Douglas finished the set with a 25-15 win, and Powell went searching for answers heading into the second set.

Those answers did not come early in the set, as Powell trailed early.

“We talked about the fun that we could be having, because we all really care about each other. Volleyball is a fun sport, and we want to keep playing together throughout the tournament,” Flitner said. “We adjusted our defense a little bit — Douglas has some girls that can swing pretty hard down the line. So we tried to adjust and block down the line, and they were able to get some really great kills.”

Powell took the lead 14-13 after two straight points by Floy, before Douglas answered and took a 17-14 lead to force a Powell timeout.

The Panthers brought it back to tie at 19, and tied it at 22 after a Kidd block to force a Douglas timeout.

A Holcomb kill tied it at 23, and again at 24.

Floy’s kill gave Powell a 25-24 lead and forced a Douglas timeout, before two straight points by Douglas gave the Bearcats a 26-25 lead.

Three straight points hit out gave Powell the set, to tie the match 1-1.

Both teams came out point for point once again in the third set, as Kidd helped the Panthers keep the score tight all the way through a 16-16 tie.

Holcomb gave Powell a 17-16 lead, and forced a Douglas timeout.

Out of that timeout the Bearcats responded, taking a 19-17 lead and forcing a Panther timeout.

That lead grew to as large as 22-17, and the Panthers were unable to recover as the Bearcats won the set 25-21 to take a 2-1 lead.

Powell came out strong in the fourth set, frustrating the Bearcats and building an early 8-1 lead.

Powell pushed to 12-4 and forced both timeouts from Douglas early.

The Panthers kept that early momentum, and earned a 25-14 win to force a fifth set.

In that fifth set, the Bearcats burst out of the gates, building a 6-0 lead while forcing a Powell timeout.

A hit out gave Powell a lifeline, and the Panthers took it to tie the match eventually at 6-6 on a Holcomb kill.

Douglas responded with another run, building its lead back out to 11-6 before Powell scored again.

The Panthers were unable to answer the Bearcat run, and Douglas walked away with a 15-8 win, defeating the Panthers in the state tournament after two successive losses.

“It was one of those games where they got their kills, we got ours, and they just ended up on top,” Flitner said. “They’re a really good team, as they showed when they won the state championship.

“It was a really big momentum game … Unfortunately in the fifth set, the momentum just seemed to be on their side and it was hard for us to catch up after that six. Maybe in a set to 25 we would have been able to overcome a deficit like that, because in a set to 15 you have to get out early, and unfortunately it didn’t go that way for us.”

POWELL 3, PINEDALE 0

(25-22, 25-7, 25-20)

The loss Friday night dropped the Panthers to the consolation semifinal on Saturday, taking on the Wranglers (22-15-1).

“We talked about it [Douglas] being a really tough loss and not the outcome we wanted, but we still have a couple games hopefully to play, and we want another chance after that morning to play together one last time,” Flitner said. “We talked about the different things we needed to be aware of while playing Pinedale, we’d seen them before. So we talked about all that, and I think the girls were obviously pretty disappointed the night before, but then once we stepped on the court, I was really proud of how well they responded during that match.”

Both teams came out strong, with Powell holding the slight lead up 16-14 after the Wranglers hit into the net and forced a Pinedale timeout.

Powell continued holding onto that lead until the Panthers pulled out a 25-22 win.

In the second set the Panthers controlled the pace from the start, with Pinedale calling the timeout after a double hit made it 8-3.

Holcomb added to the Wranglers’ misery early, as her kill made it 13-4 and forced the second timeout from Pinedale.

Kidd pushed the lead to 19-5, and Ava Teten finished the set with three late aces to make it 25-7.

Powell again started strong up 10-5 in the third set, but a few points by Pinedale cut the lead to 11-9 and forced a timeout by the Panthers.

The Wranglers had tied the match, but Powell regained the lead and held on late.

Kaedenze Carter finished the match with a kill as the Panthers earned a 25-20 win to complete the sweep.

POWELL 3, WHEATLAND 0

(25-12, 25-22, 26-24)

Heading into the third place match the Panthers came up against the Bulldogs (28-9).

Ava Brewer helped Powell build an early lead, as her block made it 10-4.

Brewer stepped into the lineup for Kodee Asay, who was sidelined for significant portions of the weekend with an injury.

“I was really proud of the way that she [Brewer] stepped up this weekend, she was able to put up a solid block and she was a positive energy on the court the whole weekend,” Flitner said. “You have to give a huge shoutout to Kodee, she is a great kid, and I can’t imagine how disappointing it is to not be able to play [a lot] at your last state tournament. She’s a crucial player on our team, and you can’t help but think what would have been the outcome had she been able to put up a block on Douglas’ outside hitters, but she was consistently positive and cheering on her teammates while she was on the sidelines.”

Powell kept its early momentum, and finished the first set with a 25-12 win after a net violation by the Bulldogs.

Long rallies featured early in the second set, with Powell getting a key point to take the lead after Alexa Richardson found a soft spot in the defense to put Powell up 6-5.

Floy pushed the lead to 12-8 and forced a Wheatland timeout, but the Bulldogs stormed back and held a 19-16 lead before a Panthers timeout.

Powell rallied, aided by a hit into the net and a kill by Autumn Kidd to make it 20-19, before Holcomb recorded an ace to finish the scoring and give Powell a 25-22 win.

Another close set followed in the third, with the Panthers holding the slight edge up 17-16 to force a timeout.

Two straight points gave Wheatland the lead and forced a Powell timeout, but Powell responded behind Autumn Kidd who had two kills to make it 20-18.

Five straight points gave Wheatland a 23-20 lead, but three straight by Powell including two Holcomb kills made it 23 all.

Powell finished the late comeback, aided by a Brewer and Saige Kidd block to earn a 26-24 win.

“It meant a lot to the girls. It’s always fun to end the season on a win, and especially not only a win, but I felt the girls played especially well and we didn’t have as many ups and downs as we had in some of our other matches,” Flitner said. “I felt like we were able to kind of consistently move forward and keep Wheatland out of system — they were swinging aggressively and everything was clicking.”

FUTURE OUTLOOK

After a second consecutive season in which the Panthers finished in the top three at the state tournament and recorded less than 10 losses, the program will look to reload after another strong graduating senior class.

Powell will say goodbye to six seniors who played significant parts in the rotation, but will have some returners who saw time this season including a strong contingent of sophomores who played a key role in  the Panthers’ success.

“It is a great group of seniors, and no players are ever replaceable, and we’ll definitely miss them next year,” Flitner said. “I think it was great to have some of those younger girls get some experience, especially at high level play like the state tournament. You never know what the next year is going to look like … Ava [Brewer] stepped up into some really big shoes and performed well, as did Autumn. So I’m hopeful that we can have a lot of those younger players continue to do the same, and that we can put in some work in the off-season to have another successful season next year.”