The Oak Harbor Wildcat volleyball team hosted Stanwood on a rare Monday night match last night.

In Freshman action, the girls won the first game 25-19, lost the 2nd 24-26, and the third 21-25. Even though they lost, the girls were head up, as they played well. Setter Abi Cone said "we should have won the 2nd game". Coach Bjork continues to be impressed with the weekly improvement of the players.

The JV squad won their match, losing the first game, winning the 2nd strongly, then pulling out a win in a close 3rd match.

Game one did not start well, with the 'Cats dropping behind, at one point down 9-4, but started to chip away at the Spartan lead, using a double block set up by Amanda Blau and Sydney Carlson along with a Heather Felps service ace to tie the game at 12. The next 3 points were for Stanwood were all errors by Wildcats, including a lift call and twice having a player in the net. OH then got an ace by setter Jordan Faralan to close it to 14-15, but Stanwood went on a tear, scoring 7 straight, including 2 service aces and 2 kills. The JV team was only able to score twioce more, one on a really nice kill by Janessa Ramos, but the first game was lost 16-25.

The second game started strong for Oak Harbor, as the girls sprinted out to an early 5-1 lead, but let Stanwood back in on a series of hitting errors. Blau and Felps had a really nice block for a point, but Stanwood was able to tie the game at 6 each. Stanwood then had some unforced errors to put Oak Harbor in the lead for good. The remainder of the game was mostly points on errors by the two teams, but Oak Harbor did earn points on a nice block by Lauren Lewis and Janessa Ramos, a service ace by Sydney Carlson, and a Stanwood overpass that was smacked down by Lewis. The game ended on a pair of Ramos kills.

Game 3 started much like game 2, with an early 6-0 Wildcat win, but the Spartans battled back to tie the game at 8, then took a 8-11 lead until a kill by Blau and a pair of service aces by Kelly Pantoleon to tie it at 11. Oak Harbor was able to crawl ahead, at one point hilding a 19-15 lead, but let it slip away, and a double hit on the 'Cats tied the game again at 24. A kill by Stanwood gave them a 25-24 lead, but Blau tied it again at 25, then a nice kill by Lewis and a back row kill by Pantoleon ended the game with a 27-25 win, and a 2-1 match win for the Wildcats.

The varsity match started out with a very close game 1. The biggest lead by either team was only 4 points, and the game had numerous hitting and service errors by both teams. It wasn't a pretty game, but there were a couple of nice points, one on a Melany Cone kill and another on a double block by Jessica Muzzall and Devin Tanner. In the end, the 'Cats pulled it off, winning 25-23 on a Muzzall kill.

Game 2 started slow, and the Spartans held the lead for the entire game. Jen Jansen had several kills and a service ace, and Marisa Sutherland added two more kills, but it wasn't enough at Stanwood tied the match at 1 each with a 25-19 win in game 2.

Game 3 was close for about half the game before Stanwood went on a 10-4 run late to pull away. Kills by Muzzall, Kim Mowbray and Jansen gave the Wildcats hope, but the girls fell short 15-25.

Game 4 didn't look good for Oak Harbor, as Stanwood built a 11-5 lead on some uncharacteristic hitting and service errors by OH. The girls fought back, and back-to-back kills by Devin Tanner and Jansen closed the gap to 19-22, but Stanwood shut out our girls for the rest of the game, winning 25-19 and picking up the match win 3-1.

89 photos of the JV and Varsity matches, including some Freshman warmup and post-game pictures are posted HERE.