MARYSVILLE — Focus and preparation.
Both are factors any coach wants to see in their team before a game — especially in the playoffs.
Unfortunately for the Oak Harbor volleyball team, both focus and preparation were thrown for a loop prior to Thursday’s district tournament opener when the team bus got lost and arrived only minutes before the scheduled 4:30 p.m. start against Jackson.
“We drove around Marysville for an hour,” head coach Kerri Molitor said. “When we arrived it was 4:25.”
Forced to change clothes on the bus, Oak Harbor was allowed an extra 15 minutes of practice time by tournament organizers, but a rugged start in game one remained a continued theme for the Wildcats.
Jackson, the number three seed from the WesCo South, defeated number-two WesCo North seed Oak Harbor in three games, 25-22, 25-17, 25-21.
“Honestly, I don’t know if that affected the outcome of the game, but it was a very stressful thing in an already stressful event because we haven’t been to districts before,” Molitor said of the late arrival.
Jackson jumped out to an early lead in game one and never trailed. The Timberwolves shot placement was on point and defensively they appeared to know where every Wildcat hit was going before it was made.
“Jackson knew coming into it that we have a tough offense and they just dug it up and waited for us to make mistakes and we accommodated them,” Molitor said.
The Wildcats had 13 unforced errors in game one and 36 for the night. Jackson had only 20 unforced mistakes.
Senior Heidi McNeill, who is the only Wildcat with post-season experience (in basketball), led OHHS with 15 kills and six blocks. Junior Jennifer Muzzall added six kills and six blocks, while junior Ashley Kingma had 20 assists and three service aces.
Oak Harbor moves into the losers’ bracket today, Oct. 30. They play a loser-out game at 11 a.m. against Monroe.
If they win, the Wildcats will be required to win two more games today in order to advance as the number three WesCo seed to next week’s 4A state tournament in Everett.
“Hopefully we’ll bring our best game Saturday,” Molitor said.
