Mother Nature proved to have a wicked backhand Monday as she all but did away with any attempt by area high school tennis teams to venture out onto courts.
Every tennis match in the area was rained out. While several teams have already set make-up dates, others decided to simply skip the matches completely.
While South Whidbey made the trek to Anacortes for a match against the Seahawks, rain prevailed early in the opening matches and the match was halted. It will not be rescheduled.
The Stanwood at Monroe match will be played today. Ferndale will travel to Mount Vernon today, while Burlington-Edison will head to Lynden on Friday in other make-up matches.
Sedro-Woolley’s match at Squalicum was rained out and will not be made up.
Volleyball
Stanwood Spartans 3
Oak Harbor Wildcats 1
OAK HARBOR — It took the Stanwood volleyball a little while to get started against Oak Harbor.
Once the Spartans worked the bugs out, they managed to emerge victorious in the Western Conference North Division match. After dropping the first game 25-23, Stanwood rallied to claim the next three 25-19, 25-13 and 25-19.
“We started off well,” said Oak Harbor coach Kerri Molitor. “In that first game, Stanwood made a lot of service errors. They quit that and then played a completely different game.”
Stanwood was led by Chelsea Campbell’s 29 assists. She busily set Kelsey Kanehen, who finished the night with 15 kills. Rachelle Dowery and Deanna Hoppe added 10 kills apiece.
“They were tough,” Molitor said of the Stanwood hitters. “They had a real good effort.”
Another reason for Stanwood’s success — defense.
“They dug a lot of our balls,” said Molitor. “A lot. That forced us into some unforced errors. We showed some moments of playing very strong. But then our confidence gets shaken and we get down. For us, just like all the other teams in the league, it’s about staying very aggressive while continuing to be in control.”
Oak Harbor’s Melany Cone tallied 37 assists. Cone was kept busy feeding a pair of hungry hitters in Jennifer Jansen and Jessica Muzzall. Jansen sent 17 balls to the hardwood and Muzzall 10.
With the loss, Oak Harbor falls to 3-6 overall and 1-2 in conference.
