Panthers battle against rival Fillies on senior night

Posted 10/20/22

Senior night and a raucous home crowd were not enough for the No. 4-ranked Powell Panther volleyball team to overcome strong runs by the 4A No. 3-ranked Cody Fillies as Powell fell 3-1 on Tuesday …

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Panthers battle against rival Fillies on senior night

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Senior night and a raucous home crowd were not enough for the No. 4-ranked Powell Panther volleyball team to overcome strong runs by the 4A No. 3-ranked Cody Fillies as Powell fell 3-1 on Tuesday night.

The Panthers (18-8-1) came out firing and took a 3-1 lead over the visiting Fillies (20-2).

After that lead, a timeout mixed in by Powell alongside a strong run had the Fillies holding a 12-3 lead.

“A lot of those points were earned by Cody and not mistakes by us,” coach Lesli Spencer said.

Cody pushed that lead out to 18-8, before Powell answered with a run of its own.

Shortly after, the Panthers found themselves trailing only 21-18, before the Fillies finished off the set with a 25-19 victory.

The Fillies started stronger in the second set and had the Panthers on the back foot trailing 9-4.

Powell responded and got a boost from an extended rally followed by an ace that pulled the match to 16-13 and forced a Cody timeout.

“There were some amazing rallies that could have easily gone either way,” Spencer said.

From that point forward Cody scored four of the next five points out of the timeout and pulled away for a 25-17 win.

In the third set the Panthers gained a 9-7 lead early before forcing a Fillies timeout.

Cody responded out of the timeout, then Powell responded to regain the lead and never looked back.

The lead extended out to as many as five, and a ball hit into the net gave Powell the final point to hold off Cody in the fourth set for a 25-23 victory.

Powell was unable to capitalize on the momentum gained from the third set win, and Cody took advantage throughout the fourth set.

Powell took an early timeout down 9-3, but couldn’t spark a rally, as the Fillies ran away with a 25-13 fourth set victory for the 3-1 win.

“I am happy with how the girls played,” Spencer said. “We didn’t play perfectly but you are hardly ever going to get that. They competed with a very good 4A team.”

Addy Thorington led the Panthers with 12 kills and 16 digs, Gretel Opps had 17 assists, Alexa Richardson had 15 digs and Mikayla Graham had four aces.

  

REGULAR SEASON FINALE

After the contest against Cody, the Panthers return to 3A action on Friday at Lovell (13-13-1).

Powell has already locked up the No. 1 seed from the 3A Northwest, and hopes to finish the regular season 6-0 against its opponents.

“We are going to get back into practice and hope to get some good momentum after this last game,” Spencer said. “We want to leave no doubt about who is top in our quadrant.”

Lovell will be playing to guarantee that it secures the No. 2 seed at the regional tournament next weekend because with a loss to Powell it will come down to tiebreakers if Worland defeats Thermopolis on the road on Friday.

   

CODY 3, POWELL 1

Kills — Addy Thorington 12, Sydney Spomer 6, Waycee Harvey 5, Saige Kidd 4, Stevee Walsh 2, Gretel Opps 2, Anna Bartholomew 1

Assists — Gretel Opps 17, Stevee Walsh 8, Alexa Richardson 2, Anna Bartholomew 2, Waycee Harvey 1, Mikayla Graham 1, Addy Thorington 1

Digs — Addy Thorington 16, Alexa Richardson 15, Mikayla Graham 8, Stevee Walsh 6, Anna Bartholomew 4, Sydney Spomer 4, Gretel Opps 2, Waycee Harvey 1

Aces — Mikayla Graham 4, Addy Thorington 2, Gretel Opps 1

Blocks — Addy Thorington 3.5, Anna Bartholomew 2, Gretel Opps 1, Saige Kidd .5, Waycee Harvey .5

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