Volleyball vs Cascade 10-27-08

The Cascade Bruins traveled to Oak Harbor for the teams' 2nd meeting of the season. The two teams played each other in a non-league contest at Cascade back on September 9th.

In that first match, the Freshman team played 3 close games, winning one. Last night, the Freshmen again won only 1 game, a close 25-22 win, but did not play well at all in the other two games, losing by scores of 14-25 and 13-25.

The JV team was the bright spot of the night. In the first meeting, the JV lost the first game but won the next two for a match win. In Monday's match, the first two games were all Oak Harbor.

The JV girls started out by building a 6-0 lead on a nice kill by Heather Felps and a service ace by Jordan Faralan. With the score at 9-3, the 'Cats went on a run, scoring 7 unanswered points. Two were by kills by 6'1 sophomore Amanda Blau, and one Kristine Bouchard, and Mandy Kepner added a service ace. The Wildcats did let the Bruins creep back into the game, at one point narrowing the Oak Harbor lead to 9 points at 24-15. On the final play of the game, Amanda Blau hit the ball over the Bruin block and it looked like it was hit out, but the referee ruled a touch, giving game one to the Wildcats 25-15.

Game 2 started slower, as Cascade got an early 2-0 lead, but that was the last lead they had, as the 'Cats quickly built a 10-4 lead, including 3 straight service aces by Lauren Lewis. Kepner and Sydney Carlson both added service aces later in the game, and Blau added 3 late-game kills, including the game winner, as the JV team cruised to a 25-19 win in game 2.

Game 3 was close, and the end left a bad taste in everyone's mouth. The JV team lost Amanda Blau and setter Jordan Faralan to the varsity team for this game, and Cascade took advantage of that by jumping to an early 8-2 lead. The Wildcats didn't let it get to them, and closed the gap to just 3 point mid-game after a Janine DeGuzman ace, the score standing at 12-15. Kills by Bouchard and Lewis kept the Cascade lead at 3, then two hitting errors by the Bruins lowered their lead to a single point, then a service error tied the game at 21 each. For the remainer of the game, the score was either tied, or Cascade had a 1-point lead. The 'Cats tried hard, but just could not get that late-game lead. Blau got a kill to tie the game at 24, but a Wildcat hitting error made it 25-24 for Cascade. In Volleyball, a game is not won until one team has 25 points AND a 2-point lead, but in this case, the referee called the game at 25-24 and gave the game 3 win to Cascade. After the game, Coach Reed said she didn't understand why the ref stopped the game when the Wildcats still had a chance to win the 3rd game for the sweep.

In the first meeting, the Varsity team swept Cascade 3-0. In Monday's match, it was very close throughout most of game 1. The 'Cats were able to build a 4-point lead, 11-7, thanks to a kill by Melany Cone, a block by Jennifer Jansen, and 2 service aces by Emily Meagher. The Wildcats were finally able to tie things back up at 17, then took the lead on an error by Cascade. A kill by Jansen made it 22-19 OH, then 3 straight hitting errors by the Bruins gave the 25-19 win to Oak Harbor.

Game 2 started out with Oak Harbor building an early 4-0 lead, but Cascade picked away at it, taking advantage of OH errors to tie the game at 9, then take the lead 10-9 on a service ace. Both teams stayed withing a point or two for the remainder of the game, with 3 kills by Jessica Muzzall and a service ace by Kelsey Cooley keeping the 'Cats in the game. A late hitting error by Cascade gave OH game point, 24-22, but an OH service error and a tipped ball tied it at 24. Muzzall got another kill to give OH game point again, 25-24, but a net violation by OH and a Cascade kill gave the Bruins game point 26-25. The 'Cats were unable to handle the Cascade serve and lost game two 25-27.

The 'Cats came out slow in game 3, spotting Cascade a 8-5 lead, which was slowly built to 19-13. They kept the lead until late in the game, when two nice kills by Marisa Sutherland and a trio of service aces by Kim Mowbray tied the game at 20. The Wildcats still couldn't grab the lead, and Cascade had game point, 24-22. At this point, there was an excessive delay while both referees conferred, looking at the Cascade rotation. After almost 10 minutes, including some spirited arguing by the Cascade coach, the game was resumed with no changes. Oak Harbor got the next point when the overpass went across the net and Cascade let it go, thinking it was out, but the ball dropped right on the line, keeping OH in the game. A service ace by Cooley tied it at 24. Cascade scored the next point, but two Jansen kills gave the advantage back to OH. Cascade scored another point, knotting the game at 27, then an Oak Harbor hitting error put the advantage to Cascade. Jansen came though again, with a big kill to tie the game at 27. On the next play, Oak Harbor was called for being in the net, then the 'Cats hit the ball long, giving Cascade the 29-27 win in game 3.

Game 4 started out close, and although Cascade had an early 4-1 lead, the Wildcats were able to tie it at 11 each. From there, though, Cascade was able creep away, earning 2 points to our 1, finishing game 4 with a 25-18 win and a 3-1 match victory.

34 images, mostly of the freshman and JV warmups, are posted HERE.