The Powell High School volleyball team split its road trip last week, as the Panthers swept 2A Thermopolis last Tuesday before dropping their first conference game to Lovell 3-0 on Thursday.

POWELL 3, THERMOPOLIS 0

(25-23, 25-12, 25-16)

In the first match of the week the Panthers (15-10 overall, 2-1 3A West) took on the Bobcats (3-18).

A closer than expected first set had the hosts within striking distance, but the Panthers held on late to take the opening set win 25-23.

“We talked about focusing on controlling what’s on our side of the net and taking advantage of what we were seeing across the court,” coach Anna Flitner said. “One of our main goals all season has been keeping teams out of system and capitalizing on those open opportunities, so that was the big push going into the second set.”

The Panthers did just that, building a lead early and pulling away quickly for a 25-12 win.

Powell capped off the match with another dominant set in the third, pulling away early once again for a 25-16 win to complete the sweep, as every Panther got to see the court.

“It’s always awesome to get everyone out on the floor and earn that varsity playing time,” Flitner said. “Every single player stepped up and contributed to the win, which is great to see.”

Kaedenze Carter and Peyton Ott tied for the team lead with six kills each, Leah Graham led with 18 assists, Carter tied with Maddie Valdez with seven digs each, Ava Brewer had the lone block. Graham, Valdez and Lucy Ostermiller had two aces each.

LOVELL 3, POWELL 0

(25-23, 25-15, 25-16)

Back on the road Thursday the Panthers made the trip to Big Horn County to take on the Bulldogs (18-1 overall, 3-0 3A
West).

Going point for point in the first set the Panthers stayed within striking distance, with the Bulldogs leading 19-15 before the first Powell timeout.

Powell rallied, going on an 8-4 stretch capped off with an Ott kill to tie it at 23 apiece.

Unfortunately for the Panthers, Lovell scored the final two points to take the 25-23 win.

“I loved the way we came out firing against Lovell in that first set,” Flitner said. “We let our unforced errors get away from us a bit in the sets after that, but seeing what we’re capable of when we play our game builds a lot of confidence. I was also really happy to see a few of our quieter leaders step up and take charge during that match.”

A similar second set followed early on, as the Panthers trailed 14-12 midway through.

From that point forward, the Bulldogs’ serving created issues for Powell, as the hosts pulled away for a 25-15 second set win.

Powell again was close in the third until midway through trailing 11-7, before a Lovell run made it 18-7 as the Bulldogs didn’t look back in a 25-16 win.

“We work on serve-receive more than almost any other skill, so I think it was really just an off night for us on that, in addition to them having some really tough float serves,” Flitner said. “We’ll keep working on it this week in practice so we’re locked in heading into Lander and conference duals.”

Stats for the Lovell game were unavailable as of press time.

BUSY WEEK AHEAD

The Panthers have a busy week of conference games ahead, starting with a trip to Lander (12-11 overall, 0-3 3A West) at 6 p.m. today (Tuesday), a team which the Panthers defeated 3-2 at home on Sept. 17.

Powell then heads to Mountain View for the conference duals, taking on the four 3A Southwest teams on Friday and Saturday.

Those teams are the host Buffalos (18-7-1 overall, 3-0 3A West), Pinedale (10-13-2 overall, 2-1 3A West), Lyman (7-17 overall, 1-2 3A West) and Rawlins 2-21 overall, 0-3 3A West).

“Right now, we really want to focus on ball control and placement. Being intentional about putting the ball exactly where we want it,” Flitner said. “Having that control is huge for us, especially when we need to break out of a rut, or stop a run of unforced errors.”

POWELL 3, THERMOPOLIS 0

(25-23, 25-12, 25-16)

Total blocks followed by solo blocks

Kills — Kaedenze Carter 6, Peyton Ott 6, Ava Brewer 4, Autumn Kidd 4, Leah Graham 3, Sam Edgell 1

Assists — Leah Graham 18, Kaedenze Carter 2, Stella Shoopman 1

Digs — Kaedenze Carter 7, Maddie Valdez 7, Ava Teten 5, Abigail Visocky 4, Leah Graham 3, Peyton Ott 3, Lucy Ostermiller 1

Blocks — Ava Brewer 1 (1)

Aces — Leah Graham 2, Maddie Valdez 2, Lucy Ostermiller 2, Kaedenze Carter 1, Abigail Visocky 1