The Lady Panther Varsity Volleyball team headed back onto the court for their second tournament of the regular season at the Montana vs. Wyoming Border Wars in Cody on Friday , Aug. 31. They ended up splitting their four matches.

The Lady Panthers had a previous tournament in Riverton the week before which put them at a 4-2 non-conference record of wins and losses. Coming out of Border Wars, Powell now boasts a 6-4 non-conference record.

The Lady Panthers have an experienced team returning this year with nine seniors and one junior suiting varsity. The group of seniors includes Rachel Bonander, Aubrie Stenerson, Jazlyn Haney, Natalie Ostermiller, Hartly Thorington, Devon Curtis, Ashtyn Heny and Jasmyne Lensegrav. The team also gained a senior right side hitter from California —  Becky Mcconahay. The lone junior on the varsity roster this season is setter Gabi Metzler.

The Lady Panthers opened their weekend against the Billings Central Lady Rams, who proved to be big competition for PHS, with several hard hitters and a big block set on every play. The Lady Panthers started slow with several serve receive and hitting errors in the first two sets and lost 25-16, 25-12.They then fought back to win the third set 25-27 and then lost the fourth 25-12.

“I think we communicated well with each other,” said Thorington, an outside hitter. “But we also need to work on keeping our attitudes up and fighting for every ball no matter what.”

Powell’s next opponent of the weekend was the Laurel Lady Locomotives. The two teams were well matched and the game went five sets with the Lady Locomotives coming out on top winning three sets while the Lady Panthers finished with two. PHS won  the first set 22-25, lost the second 25-22, won the third 22-25 and lost the last two 25-13 and 15-12.

The Lady Panthers opened the second day of games taking on the Miles City Cowgirls and yet again took the game to four sets. Powell seemed to be in control of the first set winning 25-13, and took the second set 25-14 as quickly as the first. After the first two sets, the Lady Panthers let the Cowgirls back in it, losing the third set 19-25. But the loss of the third set seemed to wake up PHS, and they came back to win the fourth set 25-22 to win the game.

“I think we did really well with trusting ourselves and each other to do our jobs,” said Ostermiller, the team’s starting setter. “But I think we need to work on not letting up when we have the lead, and not giving up when we are losing.”

Later that day, the Lady Panthers took on the Sidney Lady Eagles in another nail-biting game that was taken to four sets. Powell started slow but stayed in the game only losing the first set 21-25. After the loss of the first set, the Lady Panthers came back with renewed energy and won the second set 25-14. They then went on to win the third and fourth sets 25-19 and 25-19.

“I’m really excited to see how much we can improve this season and to see how far we can go,” said Ostermiller.

This weekend, the Lady Panthers will travel to Rawlins to get a look at the competition they will be facing from the other side of the state.

“I think it will be interesting to see how we match up against some teams from the other side of the state,” Thorington said.