POWDER VALLEY — Taking a road trip to play other Old Oregon teams on Saturday, Sept. 24, the Imbler volleyball team played to a 1-1 record for the Old Oregon League Crossover Tournament.

The Panthers started the day with a 3-2 loss to Echo. Imbler started the match with a 25-22 victory, but dropped the second set, 25-18. The Panthers returned for a 25-22 victory in the third set, but saw the fourth set go Echo’s way, 25-23. In the final set, the two teams needed extra points to decide a winner with the final going to the Cougars, 17-15.

Imbler then took the court against Nixyaawii, winning over the Golden Eagles, 3-0. The Panthers started strong, easily taking the first set, 25-12. The second set proved a little tougher with Imbler needing extra points before taking a 26-24 win. The third set was all Panthers with Imbler winning, 25-15.

“Overall, we had a very strong match against Echo despite the loss,” said Imbler coach Jennifer Teeter. “The team battled for over two hours and showed some big improvement in defense. Echo is a great team and the Crossover Tournament provided us an opportunity to see how we match up in preparation for a possible postseason match.”

Teeter said the lengthy match versus Echo made the following Nixyaawii match interesting.

“We played through some fatigue at the end of the day to come out on top of Nixyaawii,” Teeter commented. “We had some great play throughout the day from Rachael Stirewalt, Jayda Cant, Alyssa Jennings and Alex Patton.”

Imbler (10-9 overall, 2-2 1A Old Oregon League) is on the road Thursday, Sept. 29, for a league match against Cove (6-7 overall, 2-3 league).