Nighthawks ground Eagles on Senior Night

OAKESDALE - Homecoming and Senior Night was celebrated for the Nighthawks as four Oakesdale seniors were honored: Gianna Anderson, Marilla Hockett, Emily Dingman and Jessie Reed.

"It means a lot," Oakesdale coach McKinzie Turner said. "We were talking about that right before in the locker room. Some of these girls I've had since fifth grade, some of them I've had since eighth grade, some of them I've had since ninth grade, some of them I've had their older sisters.

"We've had our ups and downs but at the end of the day I think that there's a lot of love and respect for each other and it just means a lot to be able to watch them work so hard over all those years and now, finally, see that hard work pay off. Because they're all playing at such a high level and they're doing it together as a team."

Senior Night and homecoming ended in a happy ending for the seniors and the rest of the Oakesdale team, winning in three sets over St. John-Endicott/LaCrosse with set scores of 25-8, 25-7 and 25-15.

Aside from it being an important night for the Nighthawks, it was also an important night for the league. Oakesdale and St. John-Endicott/LaCrosse were ranked Nos. 1 and 2 respectively in the Washington 1B Southeast-East division, with the Nighthawks having a 6-0 league record heading into the game and the Eagles having a 5-2 record.

The two teams were even in the early points of the first set of the match – tied at 3-3 before Oakesdale went on a 5-0 run to go up 8-3.

St. John-Endicott/LaCrosse scored five points for the rest of the set and allowed 17 to the Nighthawks – keeping Oakesdale's streak of not allowing a set outside of tournament play in tact.

"We had our moments," St. John-Endicott/LaCrosse coach Jenn Johnson said. "We just weren't ourselves. And it's hard. You come into Oakesdale, you get the announcement of the state championship run... it's home court (for Oakesdale). And it's what we expect. And we just have to be better."

Scoring continued to be hard to come by for the Eagles in the second set. The Nighthawks opened the second set with a 14-0 run before SJEL scored two straight points to go down 14-2.

An 11-5 run followed after that, with Oakesdale taking the second set 25-7.

St. John-Endicott/LaCrosse found its offense in the third set. Oakesdale held a 15-9 advantage in the third set before the Eagles went on a 6-4 run to get within four points (19-15).

A 6-0 run by the Nighthawks followed for the 25-15 win in the third and final set.

"When we go one-for-one and we hit at them and we're detailed and we do what we worked on at practice and bring it to the game then we can compete," Johnson said about the third set. "But it's when we let it slide that it's off and it's not off but we have time until districts."

Oakesdale improved to 13-0 (7-0 in league) with the win and St. John-Endicott/LaCrosse drops to 11-8-1 (5-3 in league) with the loss.

"I just saw a lot of heart (from the girls)," Turner said. "They played together as a unit, they were all in, playing for each other. They just were playing Nighthawk volleyball. This is what Nighthawk volleyball is and it's really special."