Prairie City senior Caitlin Willet spikes the ball to Grant Union as they attempt to block.

The Grant Union Prospectors volleyball team was victorious against the Prairie City Panthers March 17.

In competitive sets that included many rallies, spikes and an intense second set for both teams, Grant Union won in Prairie City with scores of 25-12, 27-25 and 25-17.

“The second set was definitely the most intense of the three,” said Grant Union senior Jordyn Young. “It was pretty competitive.”

Young said a combination of good hits and great serves helped the Prospectors get the win for the night.

Prairie City senior Katie Hire said she felt the game was definitely a battle between both teams, but she felt like her team improved from last week.

“I think we worked as a team really well,” Hire said. “We really pulled it together in the second set, and we got a lot of opportunities and things opened up to us to score.”

Grant Union began the game with momentum and carried it throughout the first set with a distant lead. At 21-9, Prairie City junior Caitlin Willet ended a rally between both teams with a spike to score the 10th point for the Panthers. The Panthers defense blocked a spike from the Prospectors for a point, and then Prairie City senior Samantha Workman served the ball for another point, 21-12.

Once Grant Union got got the ball back at 22-12, the Prospectors closed the set with Grant Union senior Madison Spencer serving the ball and scoring the final point.

In the second set, the Panthers and Prospectors stayed close until 7-4 with Grant Union in the lead. Grant Union junior Paige Gerry then helped build momentum for the Prospectors when she tipped the ball back to Prairie City to score a point. Gerry then scored an additional 2 points with a serve and an ace.

The Panthers then answered back with their own momentum that started with a kill from Hire. The Panthers defense continued the momentum as they blocked two spikes launched from the Prospectors. A combination of blocks and serves carried the Panthers back to a lead at 13-10.

The set continued with multiple rallies, aces and blocks. At 25-25, both teams continued the pressure and the fight to win the set. Grant Union junior Lauryn Pettyjohn closed the nail-biting set when she served the final point, 27-25.

In the final set, Grant Union closed the game, 25-17.

Grant Union head coach Shanna Northway said the game went well.

“We served as tough we could against them, and (Prairie City) passed well,” Northway said. “We have things we need to work on such as covering short serves. That killed us today, and then we were out of system to much.”

Prairie City head coach Jordan Bass said it was exciting to see the girls battle and the team working together. She said there are a couple of freshman players on the team who were able to get great experience in the game such as freshmen Brooke Teel and Jaycee Winegar who had big plays in the sets. She also said, when Hire was on, she was on fire.

“This year in particular, our serving was really tough, and I think our ability to keep the ball alive and keep playing is really going to serve us well as we keep moving on,” Bass said. “We need to get some of our offense more involved. So (senior) Samantha Workman, one of our middles, she was really doing some good work, but we just need to get her more involved.”