The Oak Harbor High School volleyball team can’t seem to solve the Ferndale puzzle.

The Golden Eagles from the Northwest Conference topped Oak Harbor in the district championship game in 2013 and beat the Wildcats in a non-league match and twice at district last fall.

The two teams hooked up for the 2015 regular-season opener Tuesday, Sept. 8, in Oak Harbor, and Ferndale continued its dominance with a 3-0 win (25-19, 25-12, 25-12).

Wildcat coach Kerri Molitor said she saw “glimpses of greatness” in the latest loss, adding “we just don’t put them back-to-back.”

Oak Harbor came from seven points down to take an 18-17 lead in the first set, then the Golden Eagles closed out the game with an 8-1 run for the win.

Ferndale wasn’t threatened after that, jumping to a 12-3 lead in the second game and zipping to an 8-0 start in the third.

Janae Payne led Oak Harbor with 16 assists, Claire Anderson added nine kills and Stephanie Kolden had seven digs.

“We let the bad plays snowball,” Molitor said. “We have so many little aspects of the game we need to work on. We have a tendency to not play in the present — we look ahead or worry about past mistakes.”

Molitor did like the desire her club showed, and she liked the assertiveness of sophomore Hailee Blau: “She had a couple of nice hits; it’s nice to see her be more aggressive.”

Oak Harbor (0-1) goes to Marysville-Pilchuck (0-0) for a 7 p.m. match Thursday, Sept. 10.

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Claire Anderson (12), right, watches as her hit heads to the back corner for a kill. Photo by Jim Waller.