OHHS volleyball plays, bonds at SunDome Tournament

The Wildcat volleyball team journeyed to Yakima to take part in the 30-team SunDome Tournament Saturday, picking up a win and a tie in five matches.

The tournament rules called for just two games per match until the final round, which was best two-out-of-three.

Oak Harbor opened the tournament and pool play by losing to powerful Grandview 14-25, 21-25. Grandview eventually earned the No. 1 seed in the tournament.

In the second match of pool play, the Wildcats tied Glacier Peak 20-25, 27-26, and then wrapped up their pool matches with a 25-26, 25-19 victory over Sedro-Woolley.

The win and tie earned Oak Harbor third place in the pool. In the next round, Oak Harbor fell to Hanford 25-27, 19-25. In their final match, the Wildcats lost to Prosser 19-25, 25-23, 11-15.

Coach Kerri Molitor was impressed with her team’s defense. She said, “What we did well was dig. After that we made a lot of ball handling mistakes.” In all, Oak Harbor had 180 digs in the tournament, led by Kelly Terrazas-Cooley’s 68. Marisa Sutherland had 18 kills, and Melany Cone and Katelyn Bristow each had four aces.

The Wildcats spent Friday and Saturday nights in Yakima, and Molitor said she used the tournament as a team-bonding experience. She experimented with many different lineups and let everyone play. “The girls really enjoyed themselves. They are a great bunch of girls; they work hard; I really enjoy coaching them.”