PANTHER PRIDE: Imbler remains in first place in the Old Oregon League after a sweep of North Powder Thursday. -The Observer/CASEY KELLAS

“We didn’t come out as aggressive as I would have liked,” Imbler head coach Jennifer Teeter said. “We really struggled at the beginning of each game.”

Common knowledge would say that the bye week the La Grande Tigers football team just had came at a bad time.

La Grande was coming off its first win of the season with a 20-13 nail biter against Madras Oct. 9, and LHS seemed to be finally playing at a consistent level for the first time all season.

Inconsistent is one word that would describe the La Grande Tigers volleyball team right now.

The Tigers, tied for second in the Greater Oregon League coming into Tuesday night, lost a five-game heartbreaker to Ontario 25-9, 24-26, 16-25, 25-19 and 15-17.

Eastern came away with a Cascade Conference win, defeating Corban, 25-13, 25-23, 25-15 Saturday.

“It was a great homecoming weekend for us,” head coach Kaki Morehead stated. “We played well in front of our home crowd and took care of business.”

PREVAILING PANTHERS: The Imbler volleyball team grabbed a pair of wins against Cove and Joseph over the weekend. - The Observer/PAUL HARDER

The Imbler volleyball team still fought off Cove in three games Friday 25-20, 25-16, 25-17.

At one point Bowers had to run to the bathroom after a rotation.

PREVAILING PANTHERS: The Imbler volleyball team grabbed a pair of wins against Cove and Joseph over the weekend. - The Observer/PAUL HARDER

The Imbler volleyball team still fought off Cove in three games Friday 25-20, 25-16, 25-17.

At one point Bowers had to run to the bathroom after a rotation.

HOMECOMING: Chris Ware and the Mountaineers will try to get their sixth win of the year Saturday against Montana-Western. - EOU sports information

The Mountaineers welcome the University of Montana Western to La Grande for homecoming Saturday for a 1 p.m. kickoff.

Enterprise (4-1, 2-1) at Elgin

(2-1), 7 p.m.

Friday night is a big game for Enterprise and Elgin with playoff implications.

The Blue Mountain Conference has three playoff spots this season, and both teams are tied for the final spot along with Stanfield.

Enterprise enters the game coming off a tough loss to the perennial No. 2 seed, Pilot Rock.

FLYING HIGH: The La Grande Tigers are now 3-1 in conference play this season. Observer file photo

The Tigers used a dominant serving game to take control of all three games as they cruised to an easy win.

“Serving was our focal point coming into this match and the girls did a really good job with it,” head coach Melinda Becker said. “You can win a lot of games at this level with serving and serve-receive, and we did that tonight.”

ONTARIO — The La Grande volleyball team scored a league win over Ontario Thursday night 25-18, 27-25 and 25-23.

The win improved the Tigers to 2-1 in league play. La Grande controlled the first game from the outset, getting up 18-8 before Ontario made a little bit of a comeback.