Wrapping up early season tournament play, the Powell Panther volleyball team made the trip down to Rawlins to take part in the Sandy Jebins Invitational.

Competing with nearly every team in 3A the Panthers posted a 4-1-1 record. Powell defeated Buffalo and Burns 2-0 on Friday and tied with Pinedale 1-1 in pool play before beating Worland 2-0, losing to Douglas 2-1 in the gold bracket semifinals and defeating Lovell 2-1 in the third place game.

POWELL 2, BUFFALO 0

(21-19, 21-19)

Kicking off tournament action the Panthers (13-4-1) matched up against the Bison (8-10), for a preview of what is consistently one of the top teams in the 3A East.

With sets to only 21 points the Panthers jumped out quickly and held off the Bison late in a 21-19 win.

The second set the two teams played point for point, with Powell pulling out a narrow win by an identical score to earn the 2-0 win.

“Seeing teams that are outside our conference is always really fun,” coach Anna Flitner said.

POWELL 1, PINEDALE 1

(21-11, 15-21)

After the first win the Panthers turned around to square off against the Wranglers (11-6-1) in their second match of the day.

Powell dominated the first set 21-11.

The second set flipped the script for Pinedale, as the Wranglers built an early lead and held off the Panthers 21-15 to earn the tie.

“They’re a solid team,” Flitner said. “A lot of the teams in our conference and just 3A in general, Pinedale, Lovell, are some extremely scrappy teams. It’s fun to play teams like that that just don’t ever let the ball drop on their side of the floor. So they’ll probably continue to be tight matches when you play teams that have the scrappiness that those teams do.”

POWELL 2, BURNS 0

(21-12, 21-11)

Wrapping up pool play the Panthers took on another 3A East team in the Broncs (1-17).

A win meant that Powell advanced out to the gold bracket, and the Panthers made no mistake, earning two quick set wins 21-12 and 21-11.

POWELL 2, WORLAND 0

(21-12, 21-16)

After winning their pool the Panthers advanced to take on the second seed out of another, playing the 3A Northwest quadrant foe Warriors (3-6) in the quarterfinals.

Powell came out in a dominant first set to win 21-12.

In the second, the Panthers had another strong set and finished with a 21-16 win.

Winning that game provided some guidance for the Panthers, as they will face the Warriors in their conference opening match at home on Thursday.

“I think that it’s always nice to see the way that teams play in tournaments before, and we can work the kinks out and kind of understand what works best against different teams,” Flitner said. “I think even though we got the win [last] weekend, that doesn’t mean it’s going to be an easy match for us this week, but at least we know what we need to focus on when we play them again.”

DOUGLAS 2, POWELL 1

(22-20, 19-21, 12-15)

In the semifinals the Panthers matched up with the Bearcats (16-2), a rematch of the state semifinals last year.

“They’re a very solid team,” Flitner said. “I was impressed with the way that they played, and I was also impressed with our team and the way that we hung with them as well.”

It was a close match throughout, with the Panthers winning the first set 22-20, and the Bearcats returning the favor with a 21-19 second set win.

In the decisive third set the Bearcats jumped out to an 8-2 lead, helping them hold off a late charge from the Panthers in a 15-12 win.

“I think we need to work on how we started out that third set,” Flitner said. “If we had started the set like we finished that set, it might have been a different outcome. So we just need to work on the mental piece of ‘OK, when we’re in that slump, how can we side out earlier, rather than digging ourselves into a six or seven point deficit?’ Because those deficits, especially in a set to 15, are hard to come back from.”

POWELL 2, LOVELL 1

(19-21, 21-19, 15-5)

Heading into the third place match the Panthers matched up with another 3A Northwest quadrant foe in the Bulldogs (8-4).

Lovell came out on the front foot, defeating the Panthers 21-19.

In the second set the Panthers returned the favor, winning by an identical scoreline.

Learning from the earlier third set against the Bearcats, the Panthers jumped out against the Bulldogs in the third set, cruising to a win to finish third.

“We were talking about being the first to two and the first to five, and then continuing on with that momentum and trying to keep other teams out of system is a huge factor,” Flitner said.

NORMAL SCHEDULE

After three straight weekends of tournaments the Panthers are now preparing for a less busy schedule, as Flitner said the team is a little fatigued and will focus more on the mental aspect of the game while playing only two contests this week.

“I think these back-to-back weekends have led our bodies to be a little bit fatigued,” Flitner said. “So this week, I think we’re really going to hit the mental piece hard and work on some of the sports psychology stuff or mindfulness training. I think as coaches, we want to develop people as well as players. So if that’s something that we can work on that will also help them later on in life, I think that’s an important piece.”

This week the Panthers will have their first home game, starting with a contest today (Tuesday) at 6 p.m. against 2A Rocky Mountain (5-9-3).

Powell then opens up conference action, taking on Worland at home at 6 p.m. on Thursday.