Playing one of its best overall matches of the season, the Oak Harbor High School volleyball team remained tied for first with a 3-0 win over visiting Stanwood Tuesday, Oct. 7.

Oak Harbor sits on top of the tightly bunched Wesco 3A standings with a 5-1 record half way through the league schedule. The Wildcats share the lead with Glacier Peak, a team they defeated last week.

Three other teams — Edmonds-Woodway, Shorewood and Arlington — are only a half game back at 4-1. Lynnwood is 4-2.

Oak Harbor (5-1, 5-3) travels to Edmonds-Woodway for a 7 p.m. match Thursday, Oct. 7.

The Wildcats’ lone loss is to Arlington, they beat Lynnwood and they meet Shorewood in the season finale.

Oak Harbor stopped Stanwood 25-14, 25-23, 25-19.

Though the Spartans entered the match with a 1-4 (3-4) mark, Oak Harbor coach Kerri Molitor was worried: “Their record doesn’t reflect who they are; they are better than that. We always seem to lose to Stanwood.”

The Wildcats weathered every Spartan run to take all three games.

In game one, Oak Harbor went up 10-4. Stanwood hung around, trailing 17-13, before the Wildcats finished on an 8-1 run. Aces by Claire Anderson and Aubrey Lock and a block by Hailee Blau spurred the final push.

The Wildcats came back twice to take the second set. The Spartans went up 16-12, Oak Harbor rallied to take a 19-18 lead, then Stanwood recovered to go ahead 23-20.

Another Blau block and two Anderson kills led Oak Harbor’s 5-0 run to complete the comeback.

The third game was tied at 8, then Oak Harbor built a small lead, helped by four kills and an ace from Anderson, and held it until the finish.

A kill by AnnaBelle Whitefoot and an ace from Hailey Beecher provided the final two points.

Anderson stuffed the stat sheet with 21 kills, 17 digs and two aces; while Beecher had 20 assists, seven digs and two aces.

Natalie McVey added 15 assists and eight digs; Amelia Berner had five kills and two blocks; Blau finished with 4.5 blocks; and Whitefoot had 18 digs.

“I thought we played pretty well,” Molitor said.

At moments, she said, her team lost focus and let what happened on previous points affect their play: “We didn’t play in the present.”

She noted that this match was the first time she didn’t play her entire 13-girl varsity roster: “We found a group that was working and stuck with it.”

“I think each individual is starting to pick up her play and feeling more confident,” she added.