Prairie City's Brittany Reid serves the ball in the Panthers' match against the Grant Union junior varsity on Saturday.

Prairie City def. Crane 25-16, 25-15, 25-15

PRAIRIE CITY – Led by Eve Denton’s 16 points, 13 assists and 86 percent setting, Prairie City remained in first place with a 25-15, 25-15, 25-15 victory over Crane in Old Oregon League volleyball action on Friday, Oct. 3.

Brittany Reid set at 81 percent with four assists, five kills and four points, and Danielle Smith added four kills and 12 points for the Panthers.

“We played well in the match, but our setting could have been better,” Prairie City coach Eva Saul said. “Our passes weren’t as good as they usually are.”

Lindy Black had seven kills and four points, Amanda Rockhill had eight points and four kills and Cherise Ricco chipped in with a pair of kills and five points to Prairie City’s scoring.

Prairie City wins JV Tournament

JOHN DAY – On Saturday, Oct. 4, Prairie City played in the eight-team Grant Union JV Invitational Tournament, going undefeated over five matches to be crowned tournament champion.

Competing in the tournament’s A Pool, the Panthers defeated the Burns JVs in the opening round 25-15, 25-15, before dropping the host Prospectors 25-21, 25-9 in the second round.

In the final round before bracket play, Prairie City topped the Crane JVs 25-5, 25-13.

In the opening round of the championship bracket, the Panthers defeated Monument-Dayville 25-12, 25-20, to earn the right to meet the Burns JVs once again for the tournament’s title.

In the title game, Reid had seven points, seven kills, nine assists and set at 96 percent as Prairie City defeated the Hilanders in a tight match 26-24, 25-23 to take home the trophy.

Smith had eight points and two kills, Denton was 96 percent setting with 11 assists and five points. Black had four kills and five points, and Ricco and Rockhill had five and three kills respectively.

In the opening match against Burns, Denton had 19 points set at 90 percent with eight assists. Reid was 100 percent setting with three assists, six points and five kills. Smith had eight points and two kills, and Black had six kills.

In the Grant Union match, Denton and Reid were both 100 percent in setting, Smith had eight points, Rockhill five and Black had seven kills.

Danielle Ricco led the Panthers in points against the Crane JVs with 12, Reid had 11, Denton seven and Kayla Reid and Jill Martens chipped in with four and two kills respectively.

“It was a pretty good weekend for us once again,” Saul said. “We have three difficult league games this week and we’ve got to be ready for them.”

The Panthers host Wallowa on Friday, Oct. 10, in a 4 p.m. match, and play host to Cove and Crane in a league tournament on Saturday, Oct. 11. The matches on Saturday are set to begin at 11 a.m.