A young Powell Panther volleyball team that will still return some experienced players got some important matches in to end the summer, taking part in the Northwest College team camp that pitted the Panthers against other teams from around the basin at the end of July.

Following last season the Panthers graduated a significant portion of their lineup, including six seniors who helped the team to a third place finish at state.

Powell brings back some experience from that third place team, but will still have a young roster this season with a lineup primarily full of juniors and sophomores.

“I thought that given the dynamic they did really well,” coach Anna Flitner said. “We lost a lot of seniors last year, so team camp was a lot of trying different rotations and putting people in different positions. For example, Leah (Graham) was our setter all the way around but at team camp I had her play outside, so we are working through some ideas of what might be best for this team this season.”

Flitner said the camp also gave the team the opportunity to step up as leaders — after the recent graduating class the team lost a number of vocal leaders — and Flitner was happy with how the team adapted and worked hard during the camp.

She said it is key the Panthers are returning players who received significant experience from last year as well, because the team will need leaders.

“It’s nice having at least two with some pretty significant varsity experience,” Flitner said. “For a lot of the girls that are going to have to step up, it’s nice to have some experienced players that they can look up to and can kind of level things out when things get chaotic.”

Flitner said the camp was also a good opportunity for her to get to talk to the other coaches from around the basin, from Lovell and Cody to Riverside to try and get an idea of their youth programs, with Flitner hoping to communicate and work with the local youth players more moving forward.

“I would really like to collaborate even more with some of the local coaches. Lovell seems to have a strong program consistently, and their young players coming up are super solid,” Flitner said. “Even if we can get some ideas of how to replicate that within our program with the younger girls would be great. It’s a great opportunity for coaches to collaborate at team camps when there’s some downtime too.”

Following the team camp the Panthers have had the rest of the summer to get ready for the season which kicks off on Aug. 18.

“The biggest thing is going to be flexibility, because we’re going to have to try a few different things even if that means changing things up mid-game or mid-set to figure out what really works best for us,” Flitner said. “Sometimes what works best as a team is not always what individuals want. Just trying to be flexible and recognize ‘this is what is best for the team. This is how I can best contribute will be the biggest thing moving forward.’”