There’s early-season optimism for the Panorama Panthers varsity volleyball team. The Panthers, who’ve averaged five wins on the hardwood since the 2007 season, won their first two matches of the year in seven total sets. Panorama returns to the court tonight in Panora, hosting the Ogden Bulldogs in a West Central Activities Conference match. On Friday, August 18, the Panthers hosted the Bulldogs for a varsity scrimmage in Panora as part of the mock gameday experience for the two school districts. On the Wahl McAtee Tire and Service Center Guthrie County PM Sports Page last night, Panorama head volleyball coach Jessica Nail talked about a couple of weaknesses the Panthers showed during the preseason against the Bulldogs. “A couple of things we struggled with was our serve receive against (Ogden),” Nail said, “They have some tough servers, so we’ve been working on hard serves in practice. They have a lot of topspin and drop balls that we’ve been working on. ”

Nail’s also is having the girls practice their defense at the net and their blocking ability. Ogden is off to a 1-4 start overall with their lone victory coming against Interstate 35 in five games in their conference opener last Thursday in Truro (25-17, 22-25, 23-25, 25-17, 15-10). The Bulldogs lost all four matches they played in this past weekend’s West Marshall Tournament. The varsity match between Panorama and Ogden serves at 7 p.m. tonight in Panora.