Taking part in the Evanston Border Wars Tournament, the Powell Panther volleyball team took on a ton of quality opposition and learned plenty in the early season after finishing 4-4 over eight games.

Powell (8-4) defeated 4A Evanston, Rock Springs and Jackson as well as 2A Kemmerer, while losing to 4A Kelly Walsh and Star Valley along with 1A Cokeville and Bear Lake, Idaho.

“I think this weekend was a good opportunity for us to see some tough competition with quicker offenses to see what we need to work on in order to compete at a higher level,” coach Anna Flitner said. “For the most part I felt like our team played the best we could at the time with the exception of one match.”

The Panthers started with a win over the host Red Devils (8-6) in three sets 25-18, 22-25, 16-14, before also defeating the Rock Springs Tigers (5-8) in three sets 14-25, 25-18, 15-13.

Following those wins and moving to a 6-0 record, the Panthers ran into troubles to end Friday and into Saturday morning, losing to the Cokeville Panthers (6-7) in three sets 20-25, 25-20, 15-7 as well as Bear Lake 25-14, 25-16.

Early Saturday the Panthers fell to the defending 4A state champion Kelly Walsh Trojans (11-2) in two sets 25-13, 25-14, before ending their losing skid with a win against Kemmerer (1-11) in two sets 25-15, 25-13.

Powell ended the weekend with a split against two more 4A teams, defeating Jackson (5-8) in three sets 25-16, 21-25, 17-15, but losing to Star Valley (6-7) in straight sets 25-11, 25-21.

Overall Flitner felt the Panthers were better at attacking when they needed to, but there is still room for significant improvement for the team when it comes to unforced errors.

“In comparison to last weekend, I thought we did a better job at taking more swings on out of system balls and our serves were more aggressive,” Flitner said. “One area that we need to improve on is reducing unforced errors. We need to find the balance between being aggressive and making smart plays that can still keep other teams out of system. We also discussed being able to adjust to things changed in the huddle in the moment based on the teams we are playing at a higher rate in order to be successful.”

Powell will now have its first quick turnaround of the season, heading north into Montana for a quick pit stop today (Tuesday).

That match will be a 5:30 p.m. start against Red Lodge, with Flitner hopeful it will help the Panthers gain momentum heading into the final tournament of the regular season in Rawlins, where Powell will see a majority of 3A competition on Friday and Saturday.

“I am hoping that we use Red Lodge as an opportunity to prepare for this weekend where we will see some conference teams,” Flitner said. “I think we have the potential to be very successful this weekend if we focus on what we can control and come together as a team.”