Snohomish handed the Oak Harbor High School volleyball team its first loss of the season Tuesday, Oct. 22, but the Wildcats can still move into a tie for first place with a win at Arlington Thursday.

The eighth-ranked Panthers (9-1), whose only loss this fall is to fifth-ranked Arlington, beat host Oak Harbor 3-1 (20-25, 25-17, 28-26, 25-19).

The Wildcats (10-1) have three regular-season matches left, starting with the trip to Arlington (11-0) for a 7 p.m. match Thursday, Oct. 24.

Oak Harbor jumped on Snohomish for a 5-0 lead in the first set and led by four, 9-5, before the Panthers took off on a 12-3 run to take a 16-12 lead.

The Wildcats got back on track, taking advantage of five Panther errors and two kills from Leielle Salinger to go up 21-17. Another kill from Salinger and two from Jasmine Ford helped Oak Harbor cement the set.

Not much went right for the Wildcats after that. Oak Harbor struggled with its passing and couldn’t muster a consistent attack, allowing Snohomish to win the next three games.

The Panthers led wire-to-wire in the second set and the first half of the third.

Oak Harbor overcame a six-point deficit in the third game, eventually taking a 16-15 lead on Morgan Pease’s kill. The Wildcats pushed their lead to three, then Snohomish rallied to knot the game at 23. Oak Harbor had set point, 24-23, on a Payton Parks kill but couldn’t close out the game.

Snohomish zipped to a 5-0 lead in the fourth set, Oak Harbor cut it to 5-4, and then the Panthers steadily pulled away from there.

“We need to work on our discipline,” Oak Harbor coach Kerri Molitor said. “We are a good team that needs to prove it. We can – we know we can – but we need to improve our consistency.”

Pease paced the Wildcats with 12 kills, 14 digs, two blocks and three aces. Salinger had 11 kills, 11 digs and an ace; while Parks added six kills, seven digs, three blocks and four aces.

Annie Salinger finished with 32 assists, eight digs and two aces; and Gredina DeGuzman had 18 digs.

Annie Salinger delivers a set for the Wildcats. (Photo by John Fisken)

Emily Lamb prepares to serve for Oak Harbor. (Photo by John Fisken)

Leielle Salinger tips in Tuesday’s match. (Photo by John Fisken)

Payton Parks passes as Lacey Zylstra (3) looks on. (Photo by John Fisken)

Morgan Pease goes for the kill. (Photo by John Fisken)

Bailey Roggen attacks at the net. (Photo by John Fisken)

Jaslin Webster launches a serve. (Photo by John Fisken)

Lacey Zylstra gets the offense started with a set. (Photo by John Fisken)