Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
SPANGLE – The two-time defending state champion Nighthawks won their season-opening, nonconference volleyball game, 3-2, Tuesday, Sept. 5, at Liberty High School.
Liberty (0-1) took the first and fourth sets, 25-21 and 27-25, respectively. Oakesdale (1-0) won the second, third and fifth sets, 28-26, 25-18 and 15-7 for the victory.
“I was really proud of how we worked together as a team to persevere,” said Oakesdale head coach McKinzie Turner.
Liberty is a Class 2B team; Oakesdale is a 1B team.
Samantha Holling, Brieyn Henley and Lucy Hockett led Oakesdale at the line, each serving four aces. And Payton Davis put away 28 kills in the win.
For the Lancers, Maicy Bothman had 6 aces to lead Liberty serving. Kendall Denny and Brooke Redder each added 2.
Denny had 21 kills and Devy Cook 14.
Denny served 32 of 32 on the night.
For Oakesdale, Samantha Holling had 46 assists and Brieyn Henley had 21 digs. Brayden Henley had 3 blocks at the net.
“Brieyn Henley was reading and hitting the floor, which led to her notching 21 digs in the match. Samantha Holling did a great job running the offense and made key adjustments to get our hitters in the right situations,” Turner said.
Liberty’s Redder had 16 assists and Denny had 10 in the losing effort.
Jordyn Jeske let the Lancers with 14 digs; Cook followed with 12.
Jeske and Cook each had 6 blocks.
Oakesdale won the state 1B girls volleyball title six of the last eight years.
League rival Pomeroy won the title in 2019.
In 2020, the state volleyball tournament was canceled due to Gov. Jay Inslee’s orders to shut down schools and sporting events due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Oakesdale next hosts Tekoa-Rosalia (1-1) on Tuesday, Sept. 12.
Tekoa-Rosalia traveled to Cusick (0-2) on Tuesday, Sept. 5, where they topped the Panthers, 3-2, but lost to Selkirk, 3-1. Selkirk is 1-1 on the season, so far, having lost to undefeated Valley Christian (Spokane Valley).
Liberty was scheduled to host the Class 1A Newport Grizzlies on Monday, Sept. 11, then travel to Class 2A Rogers (Spokane) on Thursday, Sept. 14.
The Grizzlies are 0-2 on the season, so far, and the Pirates are 0-1.
Roger Harnack is the owner/publisher of Free Press Publishing. Having grown up Benton City, Roger is an award-winning journalist, photographer, editor and publisher. He's one of only two editorial/commentary writers from Washington state to ever receive the international Golden Quill. Roger is dedicated to the preservation of local media, and the voice it retains for Eastern Washington.
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