Wildcats rally for win over Scots / Volleyball

By Jim Waller • October 24, 2017 1:30 am

After dropping the first two games, the Oak Harbor High School volleyball team roared back to snare the next three in a dramatic win over Shorecrest Monday, Oct. 23, in the final Wesco home match of the season for the Wildcats.

Oak Harbor closes out the regular season with an important match at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 24, in Everett.

The Wildcats (6-5, 7-6), Everett (6-5, 7-6) and Shorewood (6-5, 6-8) are tied for sixth in the Western Conference standings. The teams which finish fifth, sixth and seventh earn home matches in the loser-out, district play-in round Saturday, Oct. 28.

Shorewood, which plays Meadowdale (3-8, 4-9) Tuesday, holds the tie-breaker over Oak Harbor and Everett.

Oak Harbor 3, Shorecrest 2 (21-25, 14-25, 25-11, 25-20, 15-7)

The Wildcats were out of sorts the first two games. In the opening set, Shorecrest pulled away from an 11-11 tie to win 25-21. The Scots then finished game two on an 11-1 run to take the easy win.

Oak Harbor found its rhythm in the third set, jumping to an 8-1 lead and never let up.

The Wildcats raced to another big lead, 9-2, in the fourth set, but this time the Scots fought back to tie the game at 11. Oak Harbor kept its composure and finished strong behind two kills from Jasmine Ford, two aces from Ceirra Dean and a kill and ace from Samantha Hines.

In the decisive fifth game, Oak Harbor went up 4-0, the Scotts sliced it to 5-3 and then the Wildcats scored three straight points and Shorecrest never got closer than four the rest of the way.

“I liked how they fought back,” Oak Harbor coach Kerri Molitor said of her team.

She lauded the play of Ford, recently called up from the junior varsity.

“She is an up and coming player,” Molitor said. “I just wish there was more time in the season to give her more reps.”

Setter Andrea Ruben returned from an injury and split time with Camden Miller.

“It’s nice to have Andi back,” Molitor said. Ruben guided the Wildcat offense with 31 assists.

Hailee Blau collected 21 kills, seven digs and two blocks; while Cami Bristow added 10 kills, five aces and 10 digs; Hines had seven kills, five aces and 10 digs; and Dean finished with three aces and nine digs.