Wednesday sports - Volleyball & Boys Tennis

Starting with tennis, Junior Derek Thomas was back at Stanwood High School, playing for the WESCO District tennis championship.

Unfortunately, he lost in 1st-round action to #2 seed from Edmonds-Woodway HS 6-2, 6-0. In the consolation round he played better, but still fell to his Kamiak opponent 6-2, 6-4, ending this years' tennis season.

In volleyball the Freshman, JV and Varsity teams were all at Snohomish High School. The Snohomish Varsity came into the match with a record of 5-1 in league and 10-2 overall, while Oak Harbor is 1-5, 3-9, but we'll get to the Varsity match later.

The Freshman and JV teams played at the same time in the same gym, on side-to-side courts. The first game for the freshmen was bad. The game was tied 2-2 early; with both OH points coming off Snohomish service errors, then the Panthers went on an 18-0 run on their way to a 25-4 game one victory. All the OH points were unearned, coming off Snoho errors.

Freshman game 2 was a loss, but our girl started to play some volleyball, although it took a while. Snohomish sprinted to a 12-4 lead, but 3 of the 4 Wildcat points were earned: a kill by Regina Carter and service aces by Leah Pantoleon and Carlie Olson. A pair of kills by Carter later in the game closed the gap to 4 at 13-17, but a series of unforced errors by Oak Harbor let Snoho build their lead to 7 as the cruised to a 25-17 final.

In game 3, the 'Cats stayed close for the first half of the game, even holding a 10-8 lead at one point after an ace by Pantoleon. An overpass kill by Abi Cone kept the score close at 15-16, but the Wildcats were able to score only 2 more points the entire game on an overpass kill by Cone and a service ace by Carter, leaving the final at 25-18 in favor of Snoho.

Game 1 of the JV match was very close, with numerous ties, but in the end, the Wildcats were able to pull out a 26-24 victory, however game 3 went badly for the girls, as they fell 9-25.

Game 3 was closer, but the Wildcats were on the short end of the score throughout. There was some nice play both at the net and in the back row, including a great solo block to go with a couple of kill by Amanda Blau. Jordan Faralan and Janine DeGuzman also had kills for the Wildcats, and Lizzy Chase, recently moved up from the Freshman team, scored a service ace. The final score in game 3 was 25-16 for the Panthers.

Varsity game 1 had some of the best blocking we've seen all year by the Wildcats. At least 3 times by our unofficial count, 4 Wildcat points were earned by blocks. At the net were Jessica Muzzall, Jennifer Jansen, Kim Mowbray and Marisa Sutherland. In addition to the blocks that earned points, the Wildcats blocked numerous other Panther hitting attempts, but those blocks either remained in play or went OOB. Even though the Wildcats lost game 1 25-19, it was an exciting game to watch.

Game 2 wasn't as close, and the girls didn't play as well. The final was 25-12 for Snohomish, and only 3 points were earned - a kill each by Jansen, Janessa Ramos and Kim Mowbray. The rest were errors by Snohomish. The Wildcats were a little more active in game 3, but the result was similar, a 25-14 Snohomish win. Jansen and Muzzall both got a couple of kills, and Sutherland tapped a Snohomish overpass to the floor for a point.

Next up for volleyball is Senior night vs 6th-ranked Monroe. Come cheer our girls as they play their last volleyball game ever in a Wildcat uniform. JV and Freshman start at 5:15pm next Tuesday, November 4th, with Varsity following at 7-ish.

38 photos, mostly of the Freshman and JV teams have been posted HERE.