The last four times Oak Harbor and Glacier Peak have met on the volleyball court, the two evenly matched teams battled through tight contests which finished with the same 3-2 score.
Thursday, Nov. 3, at Oak Harbor in the district tournament, the Grizzlies, for the first time, won one of those matches. The GP win eliminated the Wildcats (11-6) from the tournament and dashed Oak Harbor’s hopes of reaching the state tournament for a second consecutive year.
Glacier Peak (11-6) took the match with game scores of 25-15, 18-25, 32-30, 21-25, 15-7.
The outcome, for the most part, was decided by the exciting third game.
The Grizzlies went up 6-3, then Oak Harbor went on a 5-0 run to take the lead 8-6. From that point, no team led by more than two.
With the score knotted at 24, both teams continued to swing away, not resorting to the conservative attack often seen at the end of close matches. Eleven of the final 14 points were scored on kills; the other three were the result of service errors, two by Oak Harbor.
It was in serving that Glacier Peak held a big edge throughout the match. Over the five games, the Grizzlies fired 13 aces to Oak Harbor’s two, while committing only five service errors to the Wildcats’ eight.
Glacier Peak held a less dominating edge in kills, 51-46.
The teams split “easy” games over the first two sets.
Behind 15 kills to Oak Harbor’s six, the Grizzlies cruised in game one.
The Wildcats rebounded by building a nine-point lead midway through game two and coasted to the win.
After losing the thrilling third game, Oak Harbor again bounced back in game four. Up 21-20, two kills by Janine DeGuzman and another by Kelsey Rankin helped wrap up the set.
Oak Harbor won game four but lost Roshel Muzzall late in the set with an injury.
With Muzzall out of the lineup, the Wildcat offense took a big blow and couldn’t keep up with the hard-hitting Grizzlies in game five.
Coach Kerri Molitor said the loss of Muzzall, who led Oak Harbor with 15 kills, not only hurt offensively, but it also was a huge “emotional hit.”
Kayleigh Harper had nine kills, Taylor Nienhuis 38 assists and DeGuzman 19 digs for Oak Harbor.
Molitor was pleased with the play of reserves Lizzy Chase and Ally McGuire who “came in cold and did a good job.”
The match was the final game for Oak Harbor seniors Chase, DeGuzman and Christina Alexander.
