The Lady Panther volleyball team went 1-2 in Casper during the 3A state volleyball championships Nov. 1-3 and saw where they ranked once and for all.

Powell started out their state debut with a match-up against the No. 2 seed from the East Conference, the Douglas Lady Bearcats. In the first set, Powell stayed close with Douglas for most of the set, but the Lady Bearcats pulled away in the last few points with several back to back kills from 6-foot-4 middle hitter Allyson Fertig. Douglas took the first set 25-19.

In the second set, The Lady Panthers could not seem to get into a rhythm with their offense or their defense. Powell seemed to be scrambling the entire set to get something going offensively, but they struggled to attack the ball effectively and the Lady Bearcats took the second set 25-10.

“I think we did well with attacking the ball,” senior outside hitter Hartly Thorington said. “We knew going into it that if we just attacked hard they would get frustrated.”

In the third set, the Lady Panthers came to life and fought back against the Lady Bearcats and stayed with them through the entire set until the last three points. Powell couldn’t finish them off, and Douglas took the final set 25-22, earning a 3-0 win over the Lady Panthers.

“We were struggling to read their hitters,” Thorington said. “We just couldn’t get a solid block up for most of the game.”

Thorington was voted all-conference after being one of the Lady Panthers leading scorers throughout the season.

The following day, the Lady Panthers shook off their loss to Douglas and came back strong against the Torrington Lady Trailblazers in a loser out game. Powell started slow against the Lady Trailblazers but quickly got their feet under them to take the lead off of a few kills to win the first set 25-18.

After winning the first set, the Lady Panthers gathered their momentum and attacked the ball effectively to win the second 25-12. All of the hitters took their turns getting kills against

Torrington, but senior Aubrie Stenerson led the team in kills with eight. Stenerson was voted All-Conference and All-State this season.

In the third set, the Lady Panthers took control early and won the set 25-16 to continue into the third day of state.

The next day, Powell would take on the Mountain View Lady Buffaloes to see who went on to play for the third and fourth place state titles. The Lady Panthers had already lost to the Lady Buffaloes twice during the season, one time losing in three sets and the next time losing in four sets.

The Lady Panthers started out strong with several long rallies, but as the Lady Buffaloes took off, PHS couldn’t seem to retaliate, falling behind 18-6, but then gaining a few points only to lose the set 12-25.

In the second set, the Lady Panthers finally got things going offensively, attacking the ball and getting their defense corrected to adjust to the Lady Buffaloes strong outside attacks. Powell dominated the second set to win 25-13, tying it up 1-1.

“I think we attacked the ball well and played it smart at the net,” senior middle hitter Rachel Bonander said. “I think we needed to work on our communication.”

Bonander was also named All-Conference after being a staple player at the net throughout the season.

In the next two sets, the Lady Panthers struggled to get their offense going and trailed in scoring early. Powell lost the sets 13-25 and 17-25, ending their season with an unofficial fifth-place state finish.