One year ago, the Powell High School volleyball team felt lucky to even make it to state.

This year, the seven other teams competing at the Class 3A state tournament starting Thursday will be lucky if the Lady Panthers don’t win it — again.

PHS swept through its first two opponents on Friday before defeating Mountain View in four sets on Saturday to win the 3A West regional tournament at Jackson Hole and earn a No. 1 seed in the state tourney this week at the Casper Events Center in Casper. The Lady Panthers will play their first state tournament match at 1 p.m. Thursday when they face off against Newcastle, the No. 4 seed from the East.

The Lady Panthers were the No. 4 seed coming out of the regional tournament last season, but completed a 180-degree turn over the weekend to put themselves in prime position for a second straight state championship.

“It was a very good weekend for the team,” PHS coach Cindi Smith said. “We set some goals for ourselves and we worked together to meet those goals. There were things on the court we wanted to achieve, and things as a team we want to achieve, and we were successful.”

The Lady Panthers started a successful weekend with a three-set sweep of Pinedale on Friday. PHS (29-2) cruised to a 25-12, 25-22, 25-13 victory behind more stellar play from its seniors. Kelsey Marchant and Makaila Moore, both seniors, shared the team lead with five aces, and fellow senior Jenni Ebersberger collected 19 digs while Marchant recorded 14. Sophomore sensation Kalina Smith picked up 17 kills.

The Lady Panthers then punched their ticket to state with a 25-23, 25-11, 24-13 sweep of Star Valley later in the day.

“[Defeating Star Valley] was definitely a relief,” Cindi Smith said. “The whole mindset on Friday night was different. There was a little bit of pressure off of our shoulders.

“One of the girls even mentioned this was such a better feeling than a year ago.”

The win over the Braves guaranteed no worse than a second seed in the state tournament for PHS, and a team effort made it happen. Kalina Smith again led the team  in kills with 14. Ebersberger posted a team-leading 16 digs and four aces, and junior Breanna Donarski added 21 block assists and 12 digs. Smith chipped in 13 digs.

“What’s great about these kids is that they understand and embrace their roles,” Cindi Smith said. “Each girl can be effective at any time and they seize their opportunities when they’re given to them. That was important during this tournament.”

The regional championship featured the third meeting between 3A’s alternating top-two teams this season in PHS and Mountain View. MVHS was No. 1 when it defeated the Lady Panthers Sept. 13, but PHS rebounded for a five-set win over the Buffaloes on Oct. 11 to seize the No. 1 ranking in Class 3A.

With higher stakes Saturday, PHS came away with a 25-23, 17-25, 28-26, 25-14 title win.

“Mountain View is a nice team, and we had to compete hard against them,” Cindi Smith said. “We had this mindset that we needed to work hard the whole way to get to state, and things got harder as we moved through the regional tournament. We knew nothing would be handed to us.”

Moore again paced PHS in aces with three, and Kalina Smith knocked down a stellar 23 kills against MVHS. Anissa Warner had eight blocks and two assists, and Ebersberger dug out 28 Buffalo hits. Smith had 18 digs.

The winner of the PHS-Newcastle match will face either Worland or Mountain View at 6 p.m. Friday. Of the seven other teams appearing in the state tournament this year, PHS has faced and defeated six of them. But despite that success, Cindi Smith knows nothing can be taken for granted at the state tournament. Her fourth-seeded Panthers from a year ago proved that.

“There are a lot of changes with teams starting at the beginning of the year until now. I think the bottom line that we all know is that it’s a different feel being No. 1, and we know what the fourth seed is like,” Smith said. “We just need to stay close-knit as a team and continue to have confidence.

“You don’t take the elevator to success, you have to take the stairs,” she said. “It’s one step at a time.”