Back home after an eight game road swing the Powell High School volleyball team wrapped up the No. 3 seed heading into the 3A West Regional Tournament, as the Panthers defeated Worland 3-1 on Thursday night.

POWELL 3, WORLAND 1

(25-23, 25-18, 12-25, 25-14)

Needing a win to fully secure the No. 3 seed the Panthers (20-11 overall, 7-2 3A West) took on the team chasing them in the standings in the Warriors (13-12-2 overall, 4-4 3A West).

The Panthers trailed 6-1 after a slow start, but an early timeout helped the team reset before getting in the match.

“We just talked about controlling what we could on our side. We needed a serve-receive pass up to the middle of the court. It didn’t have to be perfect, and our hitters needed to find a spot on the court to either put the ball away or keep them out of system,” coach Anna Flitner said. “I reminded the team we were nowhere near out of it and that we see tough serves every single day in practice. I just challenged them to commit to every ball, one at a time and see what we could do.”

Powell fought back, as the Panthers cut the lead down to two midway through the set after a Leah Graham block, forcing a timeout by the visitors.

A strong run of service by Maddie Valdez gave the hosts a 16-15 advantage, the first lead for Powell since it was 1-0.

Kaedenze Carter’s ace later pushed the advantage to 22-18 and forced another timeout.

The visitors didn’t go away as they trimmed the lead to 24-23 and forced a Panther timeout, but Powell finished with a Carter kill to win 25-23.

In an opposite start to the first set, the Panthers quickly built a 9-1 lead and forced the visitors to talk it over.

A Carter ace pushed it to 11-1 before Worland fought back.

Powell kept the visitors at arms’ length, and an Ava Brewer kill was blocked out by the Warriors to make it 21-13 as the Panthers finished with the 25-18 win.

A disastrous third set  followed, as the visitors built a large lead and dominated en route to a 25-12 win.

“I’m not entirely sure what triggers those breakdowns, but it usually seems like a few unforced errors happen and then it just snowballs on us,” Flitner said. “Our serve-receive was a little off, which made it tough to get back in system and regain our rhythm. We have learned how to move on from the teams’ great plays, but we are still working on bouncing back from our own mistakes.”

Powell bounced back in the fourth, building a 9-4 lead as the visitors called a timeout after a hit out.

A Worland run trimmed the lead down to 16-13 and forced the Panthers to talk it over.

Powell pushed the lead back to 19-13 aided by two straight Autumn Kidd blocks, pulling away to a 25-14 win.

“Since we’ve taken several teams to five sets this season, our goal before the fourth set was definitely to finish it there,” Flitner said. “We talked about what we needed to do to side out when we lost the serve, and we made a few small adjustments that helped us get some momentum back early.”

Carter led in three categories, pacing Powell with 16 kills, 13 digs and six aces.

Peyton Ott added 12 kills, Graham led with 32 assists, Ava Teten led with 11 digs, while Kidd led with 2.5 blocks.

FINAL GAME

The Panthers remain at home to end the season, as they host senior night on Thursday against the top team in the 3A West in Lovell (24-1 overall, 8-0 3A West).

Neither team will be playing for postseason seeding, as the Bulldogs are essentially locked in at No. 1 and the Panthers are the No. 3 seed.

“I’m hoping we can play relaxed and just have fun out there knowing it doesn’t impact our seed. That’s usually when our girls play their best volleyball,” Flitner said. “We’ll keep working on serve-receive a lot more and continue to work on expanding/developing our hitters’ shots and ball control.”

A majority of the seeding in the 3A West is done entering the final week, with Lovell needing one win against the Panthers or Worland to claim the No. 1 seed, while Mountain View can claim the No. 1 seed with a win and two losses by the Bulldogs.

Worland and Lander are locked in at No. 4 and No. 5 and will play this week before a rematch in Worland in the opening round at regionals next week. Pinedale, Lyman and Rawlins are all fighting for the No. 6 seed after the Outlaws picked up their first conference win of the season over the Wranglers on Thursday.

POWELL 3, WORLAND 1

(25-23, 25-18, 12-25, 25-14)

Total blocks then solo blocks in ()

Kills — Kaedenze Carter 16, Peyton Ott 12, Ava Brewer 9, Autumn Kidd 4, Kindyle Floy 2, Leah Graham 1, Ava Teten 1

Assists — Leah Graham 32, Ava Teten 2, Kaedenze Carter 2, Ava Brewer 1, Kindyle Floy 1, Peyton Ott 1, Autumn Kidd 1, Lucy Ostermiller 1

Digs — Kaedenze Carter 13, Ava Teten 11, Abigail Visocky 9, Leah Graham 8, Peyton Ott 5, Ava Brewer 3, Kindyle Floy 3, Autumn Kidd 1, Lucy Ostermiller 1

Blocks — Autumn Kidd 2.5 (1), Leah Graham 2, Kaedenze Carter 1.5 (1), Ava Brewer 1, Kindyle Floy 1

Aces — Kaedenze Carter 6, Maddie Valdez 4, Leah Graham 2, Kindyle Floy 1, Ava Teten 1

3A WEST STANDINGS

(Overall record then conference record)

1. Lovell 24-1 overall, 8-0 3A West

2. Mountain View 23-8-1 overall, 8-1 3A West

3. Powell 21-11 overall, 7-2 3A West

4. Worland 13-12-2 overall, 4-4 3A West

5. Lander 15-14 overall, 3-6 3A West

6. Pinedale 10-19-2 overall, 2-7 3A West

7. Lyman 8-22 overall, 1-7 3A West

8. Rawlins 3-26 overall, 1-7 3A West