Pine City hosted Rush City Tuesday night in a Great River Conference battle.
Pine City used the cheers of the home crowd to help control much of the first set. But their lead slowly slipped away as the Tigers found a groove and marched back. The Tigers would take control themselves and walk away with the first set win 25-14. Despite scoring first in the second set, the Dragons fell behind early and watched as Rush City built on their lead. Towards the middle of the set Pine City was able to close the gap and wound up tying the set at 13. Soon they took the lead and forced Rush City to call for a timeout. That timeout would help as after being tied for the next few points the Tigers again pulled away with the lead. Eventually they claimed set two 25-17.
Rush City was looking for the clean sweep but the third set saw Pine City come to life. Once again Pine City scored the first point but found themselves trailing heading into the middle part of the set. Much like the second set that's when the Dragons rattled off a few points and took over the Tigers lead. Pine City pulled ahead 17-12 before the Tigers took a timeout. Though the timeout helped them grab a couple of points, Pine City would easily take set 3 25-18.
The fourth set was very different despite the Dragons scoring the first point. After they scored the first two points it was all Rush City. The Tigers started to run away with the set up 23-7. A timeout on the Dragons side helped them hold off the Tigers for a moment but it wasn't enough as Rush City took set four 25-14 and the match 3-1.
With the win the Tigers are one of two teams in the conference left with an undefeated record, the other team being Mille Lacs.
Pine City suffers loss one in the Great River Conference and will host another conference team Braham on Thursday.
Rush City is now 4-0 in the conference and will look to keep their team rolling as they head to North Branch on Thursday.