Imbler's Anika McDonald attempts a kill during the Hanna Cashell Memorial Tournament Saturday in La Grande. (Ronald Bond, The Observer)

For the second year in a row, the La Grande Tigers claimed the championship at the Hanna Cashell Memorial Tournament.

The Tigers went undefeated in pool play, survived a semifinal scare against Union and eventually stopped Powder Valley in the championship match, 25-16, 25-22, Saturday at La Grande High School.

“This is a very important day for us,” La Grande head coach Melinda Becker-Bisenius said. “I was in contact with the Cashell family, and they said, ‘We want you to win today.’ And it’s special because (Sunday) would have been Hanna’s 22nd birthday. It’s a special win for us. I was really proud and I wanted us to win to honor her because she loved volleyball.”

In the title match, La Grande used a 6-0 run to take the lead for good in the first set, going up 14-8 after a Josie Reagan kill and a Powder Valley attack error. The Badgers pulled as close as 15-14, but La Grande scored the next three points, then went up 20-15 and later 23-15 after two Jayce Seavert aces. Presley Justice had a kill to end the set.

Powder Valley took as much as a seven-point lead in the second set, with an Autumn Davis kill putting the Badgers up 12-5. A kill later by Brooke Allen and a La Grande attack error put the Badgers up 19-12, and had the finale seemingly headed to a decisive third set.

But kills by Kenzie Williams, Anna Green, Seavert and Justice helped La Grande pull even, and an ace by Justice gave the Tigers their first lead of the set at 21-20. A Seavert kill and Green ace gave LHS match point, and Seavert ended the match with a kill two points later.

“It’s important to start out the season with (winning) this tournament,” senior Jacie Howton said. “(It’s) a special thing for all of us, and it means a lot.”

Justice had eight kills in the final and Seavert had seven. Belle Blair countered with seven kills for the Badgers in the title match.

“They’ve played a lot of games in the past three days, and I think they’ve done a fantastic job,” Powder Valley head coach Marji Lind said of her squad, which had previously finished an undefeated two-day stretch at the 1A season preview in Molalla. “They worked hard, played well, played some tough volleyball today. It was way more competitive at this tournament than down in Portland, so the girls had to take some fire power, which was great. A lot of great things happened.”

The Tigers, though, almost didn’t reach the finale after having to survive a battle from Union. La Grande won the first set 25-12, but the Bobcats rallied to claim the second set 25-22. The teams battled to 14-14 in the third, but the Tigers earned the final two points to win the match and get into the finals.

“It was great to have those guys push us and give us some competition,” Becker-Bisenius said. “North Powder and Union obviously have great teams. There were a lot of great teams here today and I was impressed with how my kids persevered and didn’t get down.”

Reagan said the team was able to overcome some communication struggles and found the ability to rally late for set victories.

“We pulled it together. We usually start (slow) and then work our way up. We did that a lot last year too,” she said. “We’ll start behind and then come back and win.”

La Grande earlier coasted past Ontario in the quarterfinals, 25-6, 25-17, and swept a pair of three-set pool play matches against Imbler (25-16, 25-16, 25-18) and Nyssa (25-11, 25-22, 25-17).

La Grande had just three teams in its pool and played three-set matches. The other pool (won by Powder Valley) had four teams, and did two-set contests.

For the tournament, Seavert led the way with 34 kills and seven aces. Justice had 25 kills and 11 aces, Williams turned in 33 assists and 18 kills, and Howton had 17 assists and seven aces.

The runner-up Badgers reached the final by rallying to defeat Vale in the semifinals, 21-25, 25-11, 15-5. The Badgers, who won their pool, received a bye in the quarterfinals of the tournament.

In pool play, Powder Valley topped Union (25-16, 28-26), Vale (25-15, 25-18) and Ontario (25-7, 25-12).

Union reached its semifinal battle against La Grande by getting past Imbler in the tournament quarterfinals, 25-15, 25-14.

The Bobcats went 4-2 in pool play sets to take second in their pool, dropping the aforementioned two sets to Powder Valley but defeating Vale in two close sets (25-23, 27-25) and dropping Ontario (25-10, 25-15).

“I’m super happy with their defense. Working their butts off really is the big part of that,” first-year Union head coach Karly Knapp said of her team. “Defense is excellent, correcting issues when I’m coaching them and being super coachable, and then I’ve got a couple kids you can just rely on. Give the ball to them and they’ll take care of it.”

Imbler went 1-5 in pool play sets, and took third in its pool. The Panthers dropped two of three sets to Nyssa, 23-25, 25-27, 25-23.

“Overall I was impressed with our play at this point of the season,” said Imbler head coach Jennifer Teeter, who doesn’t have a senior on her team. “Our focus will be on consistent improvement each week as we finish our preseason schedule.”

All four teams are in action Tuesday. La Grande (4-0 overall) travels to Grant Union, Powder Valley (6-1) visits Union (1-1) and Imbler (0-1) heads to Pilot Rock.

Badgers, Eagles finish action in Molalla

Powder Valley picked up three more wins Friday at the 1A season preview at Country Christian High School in Molalla, sweeping North Douglas (25-12, 25-12), Days Creek (25-20, 25-17) and Jordan Valley (25-11, 25-7).

The Joseph Eagles, meanwhile, picked up a 25-16, 25-15 victory over Alsea, and added a sweep of McKenzie, 25-12, 25-14. The Eagles dropped a close match to North Douglas, 25-22, 28-26.

Stats were not available.

Joseph (2-3) hosts Elgin Sept. 10.

Outlaws battle in John Day

The Enterprise Outlaws had a loss and a split in pool play, then dropped a close three-set match in bracket play at the Grant Union Tournament Saturday.

“I was really happy with our serve receive and defense,” head coach Lisa Farwell said. “We passed really well, but we struggled with our play at the net and had too many hitting errors. In the last three days we’ve played 17 sets of volleyball, which is perfect. ”

The Outlaws dropped a close 25-22, 25-22 match to Heppner in pool play, then split two sets with Prairie City, 25-18, 19-25. In bracket play, Enterprise fell to Dayville/Monument, 20-25, 25-22, 15-12.

Carsyn Miller was 29-for-30 serving, Zari Bathke had 26 digs, and Jada Gray had four solo blocks for Enterprise (3-2 overall) which travels to the Helix Tournament Tuesday.