Battling through the stress of a close match and the ruthless voice of a loud Everett crowd, the Oak Harbor High School volleyball team locked up the top spot in the Wesco 3A North standings with a 3-2 win over the Seagulls Wednesday, Oct. 27.
The win in the regular season finale avenged an equally close 3-2 loss to Everett at home Oct. 4 and gave Oak Harbor (7-3, 10-4) the No. 2 seed in the upcoming district tournament.
Meadowdale (9-1, 9-5) captured the Wesco 3A South crown, and by virtue of its win over Oak Harbor earlier this season, the Mavericks earned the No. 1 seed at district.
Oak Harbor begins district play Wednesday, Nov. 3, at home in a 5 p.m. match against Glacier Peak (5-5, 6-8). Everett (5-5, 8-6) and Ferndale (9-4) will also meet in Oak Harbor Nov. 3. Later that evening the winners and losers will pair up for round two in the double elimination tournament.
At the same time, Mount Vernon (7-6), Shorewood (9-5), Mountlake Terrace (4-10) and Meadowdale will compete at Glacier Peak in the other side of the bracket.
District will conclude Saturday, Nov. 6, at Glacier Peak. The top three teams will advance to the state tournament.
In Oak Harbor’s 21-25, 25-14, 25-22, 19-25, 15-12 win over Everett, Jordan Faralan handed out 39 assists. Amanda Blau had 11 kills and six assists, Roshel Muzzall added nine kills and Janessa Ramos eight.
Coach Kerri Molitor was pleased with the poise of her team in the hostile Everett atmosphere. In spite of “unsportsmanlike behavior” from the Seagull crowd and some questionable calls, the Wildcats showed “classy behavior,” according to Molitor. She added that it helped that the Oak Harbor junior varsity and freshman teams “stepped up to match the cheering section of Everett.”
Molitor said the Wildcats withstood a relentless attack by Everett’s Emily Liger who recorded 25 kills. A stuff block by Blau and Kristine Bouchard on Liger earned the match point.
Molitor said, “Katelyn Bristow, Janine DeGuzman, Mandy Kepner and Christina Alexander guarded our sidelines on defense, while our Libero Kelsey Terrazas-Cooley did her job well covering the court. Although they didn’t get on the court last night, Taylor Nienhuis and Kayleigh Harper were ready to go from the bench.”
The Wildcat coach stressed several times the total team effort, and pointed to that unity as the reason for Oak Harbor’s “successes this season.”
After the boisterous battle in Everett, Molitor is happy to be playing at home in the first two rounds of district. She said the “support our team has felt from our fans” has been “amazing.”
