The Grant Union Prospectors volleyball team took first place in the Grant Union Invitational Tournament Saturday to kick off the season.

In the all-day, six-school pool tournament in the Grant Union High School gym, the Lady Pros won six games in pool play before heading into their bracket.

Grant Union faced Crane in the semifinals and won the first set 25-18 and the second 25-20.

Prospectors head coach Shanna Northway said the team had been sitting for two and a half hours before their game against Crane and came out “kind of flat,” and it took a little bit to get going.

But the Lady Pros rode the momentum from the win over Crane into the finals, dominating Jordan Valley in two decisive sets, 25-20 in the first and 25-11 in the second.

Northway said the team is playing well together and has great chemistry. She said they are a strong-serving team.

“We just keep other teams from being able to get into their offense,” she said. “Jordan Valley has some really, really great hitters, and we didn’t have to defend them because they just couldn’t get into their offense.”

Lauryn Pettyjohn said the communication between the team has been much better this year.

“Our communication has made a big difference,” Pettyjohn said. “We kind of have better team chemistry than we did last year.”

Next up, Grant Union’s volleyball team will travel to the Heppner Invitational Tournament on Sept. 4. The competition kicks off at 9 a.m. at Heppner High School.