Powell High School’s boys and girls tennis teams headed to Gillette, Wyoming, for their state tournament on Sep. 24. During the early stages of state, the team started off hot.

“The first day of state, the team did really well,” senior Ava Stearns said. “The first girls doubles were the only ones to get out on the first day.”

Once the first day concluded, the Panthers looked to carry the momentum throughout the rest of the tournament. However, their efforts fell short as junior Nathan Preator would be their only All-State finisher.

“I had a really good performance at state,” Preator said. “Going into it I knew I had a favorable bracket, so I just had to play my game and I did.”

Preator would finish 4th in the No. 1 singles category. His fellow teammates would follow with the No. 3 doubles duo of sophomores Memphis Solberg and Calvin Opps finishing out in the consolation semifinals. Senior Isaac Stensing paired with junior Alex Watts and fellow juniors Ryan Barrus and Taeson Schultz would finish just inside the top eight at 2-2 in their respective doubles matchups. No. 2 singles player, senior Trevion Solberg, would wrap up his high school career at 1-2.

“This year was tough after losing four seniors that helped us to a 1st place regionals finish last year,” Barrus said. “We had to put people in tough spots they’ve never been in. Yet we all improved so much through the year and you could definitely see that at state.”

Overall the boys would finish in 9th place with 15 total points, just behind Campbell County after they concluded the contest with 17 points.

The girls top finisher was the No. 3 doubles team which included senior Ava Stearns and junior Bailee Allred. With results similar to the boys No. 3 doubles team, they would make it to the consolation semifinals where a duo from Sheridan would beat them in a three-set match.

“I wish that I was more confident going into our final matches,” Stearns said. “It was a whole new experience for a lot of us. We didn’t do great, but I wouldn’t change anything.”

The No. 1 and 2 doubles teams consisting of seniors Annaliese Peterson and Elaina Kousoulos, as well as juniors Kyra Morrow and Isabelle Urbach, all went 1-2. Senior Sophie Czirr would also go 1-2 in the No. 2 singles slot with No.1 singles player, sophomore Naomi Whipple, closing out her season at 0-2. The girls would place 11th overall with four points, 2.5 points behind Green River’s 10th place finish.  

“I feel like our team overall did really good,” Whipple said. “We all improved so much, especially having people that have never played a varsity match work really hard to prove that they deserve their spot.”

The tennis team was youthful when it came to state experience. The expectations for their performance was unknown, but when it mattered, everyone did their best to step up.

“This year we had a pretty young team with lots of people jumping up to varsity so we struggled most of the year,” Preator said. “Towards the end of the season you could definitely see some improvements. We definitely peaked at the right time.”