You know things are going good for a team when they can win and not play their complete game.
That was the case for the Oak Harbor volleyball team as they picked up their second league win in three attempts, beating Arlington 3-1 Thursday night.
“Our serve receive was not good, our passing was not good,” Oak Harbor head coach Kerri Molitor said. “So I’m really glad we could pull that out with not having those parts of our game.”
After falling behind by as many as five points in game one, the Wildcats began to dominate at the net. Junior middle blocker Heidi McNeill, who ended the match with 14 kills on four blocks, tied the opening game, 18-18, on an emphatic spike. From that point on, the Wildcats outscored the Eagles 7-1 to take the first match, 25-19.
The Wildcats lost some momentum in the second game. Trouble returning serves and unforced errors built a 10-point deficit. Although they made a solid attempt at a comeback, Oak Harbor dropped their second game 25-18.
Led by the play of junior Jamesa Woods and sophomore Jennifer Muzzall, the Cats picked it up in game three for a 25-19 win.
Woods, who ended the night with a season high 12 blocks, was finding all the open spots on the court.
“I was just feeling really confident and every time I got a set I just wanted to put it away,” she said.
The 6-foot-2 Muzzall, who had a season best five blocks, also came up with some large plays in the third game, including a stuffed block and a powerful kill on back-to-back plays.
“She’s been doing really well when I put her in there,” Molitor said.
Although the fourth game was tightly contested, Oak Harbor continued to play strong at the net. After trailing 23-22, Oak Harbor reeled off three straight unanswered points to win the match on a Woods kill, an unforced Arlington error and an ace by senior Michelle Wilson.
Despite some of the mistakes Molitor saw returning serves, she was pleased with what she saw from her defense. Seniors Camille Merritt and Kristen Barone led the team with 22 digs apiece.
“I think we dug pretty well when they were hitting at us, just not when they were serving at us,” Molitor said.
Senior Lareese Santos led Oak Harbor in assists with 23.
Now at 5-4 overall and most importantly 2-1 in league, the Cats feel they are right on track to making their goal of reaching the district tournament and possibly the state tournament.
“We have a good team, we have everything we need to get there,” Woods said. “We just have to put it all together.”
The Oak Harbor varsity plays their next match at 7 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 16 at Marysville-Pilchuck and won’t play again at home until Tuesday, Oct. 21 against Lake Stevens.
