<I>Contributed photo/Elizabeth Shelley</I><BR>Grant Union's Bre Wilson goes for a dig during a 3-2 victory against Riverside Oct. 18. Riverside eventually got the best of the Prospectors in the teams' Oct. 28 tie-breaker for third place in the Eastern Oregon League. The Pirates won 3-1 to go to the playoffs.

PILOT ROCK – The Prospector volleyball team finished two games out of the playoffs.

Grant Union fell to Riverside in the Eastern Oregon League third-place tie-breaker Tuesday, Oct. 28. The Pros’ loss ends their season.

The two teams were tied for third place and the final Eastern Oregon League playoff spot with 5-5 records going into the meeting. The match was held in Pilot Rock because league rules require that a neutral site be used.

“It was a tough loss,” said Grant Union coach Karen Broemeling.

The Pros took the first game 25-11, but the Pirates came back and won three straight to clinch the final playoff spot on the EOL. Grant Union was on the verge of going up two games to none. However, Riverside rallied and won by the smallest margin possible 25-23.

Although the final two games were close, the Pirates had the edge. They pulled out a 25-19 win in third game and wrapped up the match with a 25-17 victory in the final game.

Grant Union had some problems with the serve. The Pros had 10 serving aces and 9 serving errors in the match.

“We played very strong the first game,” Broemeling said. “Riverside really started blocking in the last two games. It was a very disappointing loss for our team especially for our five seniors. It came down to missed serves, but Grant Union never gave up and tried to regain the momentum from the first game.”

The Pros had 35 kills in the match. Katelyn Page and Jacee Retherford led with nine kills. LaShawnda Gill had seven kills, Aspen Riggs earned five, Karina Hoffman three. Shannon Croghan and Megan Nash each had one. Croghan also had 16 assists.

Gill and Retherford each had 14 digs, followed by 11 for Bre Wilson. Taylor Croghan had eight digs. Page and Nash each had three. Retherford and Page added two blocks to their stats while Riggs and Shannon Croghan blocked one a piece.

The two teams had a strong rivalry during the season and split EOL meetings. Grant Union lost to Riverside 3-1 in the teams’ first meeting Sept. 13, but the Pros took the second meeting 3-2 Oct. 18.

The Pros lost their final regular season game of the year 3-0; 26-24, 25-17, 25-20; to Vale Thursday, Oct. 23.

The Pros’ loss gave the Pirates, who were then 4-4 in the EOL, the opportunity to knock Grant Union out of the playoffs. However, the Pirates split their remaining games Saturday, Oct. 25. They beat Nyssa 3-0 and lost to Vale 3-0 to set up the Tuesday tie-breaker.