Prairie City’s Jaycee Winegar serves the ball during her team’s match with Grant Union on Friday, Sept. 22, 2023, at Prairie City High School.

The Grant Union and Prairie City/Burnt River volleyball teams have already met twice this season and met again in Prairie City on Friday, Sept. 22, for a third and decisive matchup with county volleyball bragging rights on the line.

Both teams headed into the match seeking their second victory of the season over their cross-county rivals. The Lady Pros would leave Prairie City as the winners of both the match and the season series, downing the Lady Panthers 3-0 with game scores of 25-16, 25-18 and 25-27.

The first game of the match started tight, with both teams deadlocked at 4-4 early on. The Lady Pros would remain steady and take control, opening an 18-12 lead that forced the Lady Panthers to call a timeout.

The play of Jaydika Anderson, Drew Williams and Brilynn Combs at the net sealed the deal for the Lady Pros following the timeout, allowing them to close out the first game with a 26-16 victory.

The Lady Pros carried momentum from the first game into the second, scoring the first five points in game two to force a Lady Panther timeout. The timeout did little to stifle the Lady Pros, who outscored Prairie City/Burnt River 11-5 following the timeout to take a commanding 16-5 lead in game two and force another Lady Panther timeout.

This time, the Lady Panthers would respond following the timeout, drawing to within six points at 24-18 before the Lady Pros scored the final point in game two to win 25-18 and take a daunting 2-0 advantage in the best of five match.

The third game saw the Lady Panthers start hot, taking an early 13-7 lead. The Lady Pros would rally, scoring the next three points to draw to within four at 14-10.

The Lady Panthers responded to that rally with one of their own, scoring the game’s next three points to take a 17-10 lead. The Lady Pros would rattle off the game’s next seven points due to the service of senior Halle Parsons to tie the game at 17.

The game then became a battle of lead changes with ties at 20, 21 and 22 before the Lady Pros took a 23-22 lead to force a Lady Panther timeout.

The Lady Panthers would emerge from that timeout and retake the lead at 24-23. As she’d done in the first game, Williams was instrumental in putting game three out of reach for the Lady Panthers.

A massive spike and service ace by Williams put the Lady Pros up 25-24 with aspirations of closing out the match. The Lady Panthers wouldn’t quit, however, once again getting the point they needed to extend the match and tie the score at 25.

The Lady Pros were having none of it, scoring the final two points in the game to win 27-25 and take the season series at two matches to one.

Grant Union head volleyball coach Mariah Moulton praised her team’s effort in the match, especially against a team that knows them well in Prairie City/Burnt River.

“I am super pleased with how our girls played this past Friday,” she said. “Prairie City is always a tough match for us — our focus was to play our game and do our job on our side of the net.”

The Lady Pros have flown under the radar, quietly notching 14 wins and a Top 10 state ranking. Mouton said she’s eager to see how it all plays out.

“I look forward to how the rest of our season turns out and I have high hopes for this team in particular,” she said.

The win puts the sixth-ranked Lady Pros at 14-5 with a 2-1 league mark. The loss drops the 14th-ranked Lady Panthers to 9-6 with a 1-1 league record.

The Lady Panthers will look to get back into the win column on Friday, Sept. 29, when they travel to Jordan Valley. Tipoff for that match is 2 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time.

The Lady Pros will look to keep momentum going when they travel to Weston-McEwen on Thursday, Sept. 28. That match is slated for a 4 p.m. tipoff.