The Oak Harbor High School volleyball team began the 2016 season by splitting a pair of 3-0 matches.

The Wildcats lost 25-13, 25-21, 25-19 Tuesday in Ferndale, and then they defeated visiting Cedarcrest 25-20, 25-11, 25-9 Wednesday.

Ferndale (1-0), which has qualified for the past three state tournaments, controlled the match from the outset.

Hailey Blau paced the Oak Harbor attack with 15 kills, eight digs and 2.5 blocks.

Cami Bristow added four kills, two aces and nine digs; and Andrea Ruben collected 22 assists and six digs.

After a sluggish start, Oak Harbor buried Cedarcrest.

The turnaround came when the Wildcats improved their anticipation and court movement, according to coach Kerri Molitor.

The Red Wolves and Wildcat were tied 20-20 in the first set, and from that point Oak Harbor took off, outscoring the visits 55-20 the rest of the way.

Cedarcrest (0-1) hurt itself with numerous hitting errors, as Blau efficiently dismantled the Red Wolves, smacking 23 kills in 35 attempts.

She also had 10 digs and three blocks.

Ruben recorded 34 assists, 10 digs and two kills; Bristow had 12 digs and three kills; Samantha Hines added nine digs and five kills; and Cierra Dean tallied 18 digs.

“We played much better,” Molitor said after the Cedarcrest match. “We had a lot less unforced errors than against Ferndale.”

In the first set against Cedarcrest, Oak Harbor trailed 10-7, then went on a 5-0 run behind a tip by Ruben and a kill by Blau.

With the set tied at 20, the Red Wolves committed four errors mixed in with a Blau kill to hand the game to Oak Harbor.

Oak Harbor, spurred by three kills from Blau, raced to a 12-3 lead in game two.

The Wildcats steadily pulled away in the third set with the help of kills from Blau, Hines, Ruben and Leielle Salinger.

Oak Harbor (1-1) begins Wesco action at Meadowdale (0-0) at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 15.

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Samantha Hines digs a Cedarcrest hit while Lauren May looks on. Photo by John Fisken.