The Lady Panther volleyball team met some talented competitors Oct. 5-6 during the 3A conference duals held in Lander.

The Lady Panthers went 1-3 over the weekend, falling to the Pinedale Lady Wranglers, Mountain View Lady Buffaloes and the Lyman Lady Eagles.

Powell’s lone win of the weekend was against the Big Piney Lady Punchers, whom they defeated in three straight sets (25-14, 25-13, 25-13).

In their first game of the tournament, PHS took on the Lady Wranglers, whom they had lost to the previous year at regionals, and whom they had lost to at the beginning of the season at the opening tournament in Riverton.

The Lady Panthers came out slow and got down by several points but managed to fight back and only lose the set 21-25. They battled back in the second and third sets 25-18 and 25-18.

“I think we did really well at attacking the ball and being aggressive,” senior right side hitter Rachel Bonander said. “But as a team I think we need to work on our communication skills and really talking to each other.”

The Lady Panthers were ahead for most of the fourth set, but fell behind at the last second to lose the set 22-25. The fifth set was back and forth the whole time, but the Powell fell short losing by 4 points 11-15.

Their next game was against No. 4-ranked Mountain View; it was their first meeting of the season. The Lady Panthers had another slow start in this game, letting the Lady Buffaloes take control early. The Lady Panthers lost the game in a wash(25-22, 25-11, 25-18).

The next day, Powell took on No. 1- ranked Lyman who was technically undefeated. The Lady Panthers beat the Lady Eagles in a pool play match at the beginning of the season at their tournament in Rawlins.

The Lady Panthers came out strong against the Lady Eagles, staying within a few points for most of the match. Lyman Pulled away at the close of the set to win 25-22.

The second set, Powell couldn’t seem to get much going offensively, while Lyman attacked their open spots to take the lead early and win the set 25-11. The third set, The Lady Panthers fought back after losing the second set and stayed close until the end of the set where Lyman Pulled away to win it 25-18.

“I think the whole team did well at just doing their jobs, the hitters did their jobs, the libero’s did their jobs and the setters did their jobs,” senior outside hitter Hartly Thorington said. “But I think we need to work on trusting ourselves more, we tend to play it safe when it’s a close game instead of mixing it up with our hits and killing the ball.

“It was a little disappointing coming out of conference duals 1-3 but it allowed us to see teams we could potentially be playing at regionals,” Thorington said. 

The Lady Panthers entered the second round of conference play with Worland, Lander and Lovell before heading into regionals. Powell defeated Worland Oct. 9 in five sets ( 21-25, 24-26, 30-28, 25-19, 17-15)).