The Snohomish High School volleyball team was able to escape Oak Harbor with a win Monday, Oct. 3, taking the back-and-forth match 3-1.

The Panthers (4-1, 4-3) won 25-22, 22-25, 25-23, 25-23.

The Wildcats had trouble hanging onto leads in the latter sets.

In the opening game, the teams were tied at 14 and then Snohomish pulled ahead and held a slim margin the rest of the way.

Behind six kills and a block by Hailee Blau, the Wildcats scooted to an 11-3 lead in the second set. The lead grew to 19-8, then the Panthers rallied to within one, 22-21, before Oak Harbor closed out the set with kills by Cami Bristow and Julie Jansen.

The beginning of the next two sets were close, and then Oak Harbor built cushions it couldn’t keep.

In the third set with the score tied at 13, the Wildcats went on a 6-0 run to go up 19-13 with the help of a kill by Kristina Tirado and an ace by Blau.

Snohomish chipped away and eventually overtook Oak Harbor 23-22.

Oak Harbor was down 13-10 in the fourth set and then rallied to go up 20-16. The Panthers tied the game at 20, and the teams were tied again at 23 before Snohomish secured the match.

In spite of the loss, Oak Harbor coach Kerri Molitor saw some positives: “I think we are improving; we played a little stronger this week. We are working on communication and that is getting better.”

Blau recorded 24 kills, four blocks and nine digs in the match. Bristow had 12 kills and eight digs; Andrea Ruben added 14 digs and 40 assists; and Lauren May had 24 digs.

Oak Harbor (2-3, 3-4) plays at first-place Arlington (6-0, 7-1) at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 5.

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Oak Harbor’s Samantha Hines, left, battles Snohomish’s Bethany McBrien for a ball at the net. Photo by John Fisken.