EPHRATA — The Othello Huskies (1-1) volleyball team earned a 3-0 victory over the Ephrata Tigers (1-4) last Thursday. With this win, the Huskies have solidified a positive start under their new head coach, Isabella Hollibaugh.

“(Thursday’s) game was awesome,” said Hollibaugh. “We’ve been pushing the girls really hard to work on their energy and their attitude and they totally came through for us.” 

The Huskies took stride in the first set as they gained an early lead over the Tigers. By the end of the set Othello finished with a 25-14 victory. 

Ephrata wasn’t discouraged as they snapped back in the second set and stayed neck-and-neck with Othello. Despite a strong showing that tied at 22-22 deep in the set, the Huskies went on to claim victory 25-22. 

In the final set of the game, Othello regained its stride from the first set to claim a 25-8 victory over Ephrata, ending the game in three sets. 

“They were super consistent tonight,” said Hollibaugh. “I was really proud of the hard work they’ve been putting into practice and it’s finally showing up for us.” 

The Huskies are looking for success through Team Captain Meila Zuidema, Julie Russell and Evelyn Prows, all juniors, and sophomore Asher Pruneda. The team will also be assisted by five seniors this season: Addie Roylance, Alexa Peterson, Amber Freeman, Hazel Roylance and Zeidre Mora. 

“The girls keep raising their expectations for themselves and so I keep raising mine for them,” said Hollibaugh. “I’m just excited to see where they can go this season.” 

Tigers head coach McKaidan Boyd said the matchup showed where they need to adjust early in the season. Thursday’s game also showed the young Tigers team the importance of maintaining mental toughness, he said. 

“Everybody is willing to show up when they need to be subbed in to get those mental breaks,” said Boyd. “Othello, they really showed out and played their game really well. They had momentum and really high energy and I think at the end of the day they were competing harder than we did, so they won the match. I’m a big competitor and don’t like to lose, so it feels heavy right now, but we’ll turn around and work on the things that we need.” 

The Tigers went on to earn their first win of the season Saturday against North Central High School. The two teams had a tight matchup throughout with Ephrata claiming the first two sets and North Central taking the third set. 

Ephrata claimed victory in the fourth set 25-18. 

The Tigers next game is on the road against another familiar opponent, the Quincy Jackrabbits, Tuesday at 6 p.m. The Huskies are set to go on the road Tuesday against the Moses Lake Mavericks at 6 p.m. 

BOX SCORE 

OTHL: 25-25-25: 3 

EPHT: 14-22-8: 0 

    Ephrata’s Payton Canfield, a senior, and Natalie Davis, a sophomore, ready themselves for the oncoming Othello serve Thursday.
  

    Othello senior Addie Roylance bumps the ball back over the net against Ephrata Thursday evening.
  

    Addison Vasquez from the Tigers prepares to serve the ball in Thursday’s home game against the Huskies.