Oakesdale down St. John in top state volleyball match up

OAKESDALE — In one of the most highly anticipated Whitman County volleyball matches of the regular season, the undefeated Oakesdale Nighthawks took on the scorching hot St. John-Endicott-LaCrosse (SJEL) Eagles.

Heading into the game, the Nighthawks were the top team in the state based off RPI for the 1B division. SJEL was the second best team.

Although this was the match up of the one and two overall seeded teams, Oakesdale proved why they have been the number one team for as long as they have been, winning the match in three quick sets.

Oakesdale is still the top overall team, and SJEL dropped just one place to third in state.

In the first set, Oakesdale was warm, energized and ready, the opposite of SJEL. The Nighthawks jumped to a 15-7 lead early, before exploding to a 22-7 lead. The final set score for the first set was 25-8.

In the second set, SJEL woke up, producing strong defensive plays, with good serving from Cami Larsen and company, but still were empty handed.

Oakesdale went up 15-8 again, then pushed to a 21-10 lead, before ultimately letting the Eagles come back, but still lost to Oakesdale 25-17.

In the third set, the Eagles had the lead 4-3 early, then would continue to lead by a few points up until the very end. The set saw SJEL lead 6-5, then 10-8, 13-10, and 22-19.

After an Oakesdale timeout, the Nighthawks tied the game at 22 before taking the 23-22 lead. This was the first lead of the set for the Nighthawks. Oakesdale would then score two straight points to win the set 25-22, sweeping SJEL.

On the Eagles side, Larsen had two aces to lead SJEL. Emery Molina had five kills for the Eagles. Setter Julia Guske had 14 assists, and senior Kaitlyn Hough had seven digs.

For Oakesdale, senior Payton Davis led the way with 22 kills. She also had one block. Samantha Holling had five aces and 33 assists for the Nighthawks. Brieyn Henley led Oakesdale with 12 digs.