In a match dominated by mistakes, the Oak Harbor High School volleyball team made the fewest to upset Lynnwood 3-2 in the opening round of the district tournament at Stanwood High School Tuesday, Nov. 3.
The Wildcats (8-7) travel to second-seeded Stanwood (11-4) at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 5, for a semi-final match. The winner will earn a state berth and advance to the district championship match at 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 7, at Marysville-Pilchuck High School.
The loser will meet the Arlington (7-8)/Glacier Peak (10-5) winner at 11 a.m. Saturday at M-P in a loser-out match.
Stanwood blanked Marysville-Pilchuck 3-0 Tuesday to set up the meeting with Oak Harbor.
Lynnwood defeated Oak Harbor 3-1 in September, but the sixth-seeded Wildcats knocked off the third-seeded Royals 25-17, 17-25, 25-27, 25-23, 15-9 Tuesday in a sloppy match.
“It was a game of errors; both teams had a lot,” Oak Harbor coach Kerri Molitor.
“When we are aggressive, we make fewer errors.”
Being tentative compounds the problem, she added.
“We have been working on it all season. They (her players) have the skills; they need to be confident in their abilities and trust themselves and their teammates.”
Lynnwood was stung by service errors, while Oak Harbor, at times, “served tough,” Molitor said.
Strong service “gave us opportunities on the offensive end of things,” she said.
After the Wildcats won the first game, they found themselves facing defeat after dropping the net two, including a 27-25 thriller in the third set.
Oak Harbor recovered to eke out the fourth game, then “we picked up the energy in the fifth set and used our momentum,” Molitor said.
“Hailee Blau put up some key blocks, and we had some good digs,” Molitor said. “Claire (Anderson) was solid for us.”
Anderson piled up an impressive 21 kills and anchored the defense with 15 digs and 2.5 blocks.
Blau added six kills and four blocks; while Priya Osborne served three aces and had 17 digs.
AnnaBelle Whitefoot recorded six kills and 10 digs.
Lynnwood played without their starting setter, who was injured last week, according to Molitor.
(Hailee Blau goes on the attack for Oak Harbor. Photo by John Fisken.)
