Determination ends a drought

Othello beats Kiona-Benton for first time in seven years

OTHELLO - Othello High School's volleyball court has a sweet spot. At least the east side of the court has been sweet for the Huskies.

Othello defeated Connell 3-2 on Tuesday, winning all three games on the east side of the court and continued to defend its sweet spot against Kiona-Benton on Thursday in a 3-1 (26-24, 25-21, 16-25, 25-23) win.

The win over the Bears ended a seven-year drought under the helm of Othello head coach Steve Parris.

"They came out ready to win and that is what we have been looking for all year," Parris said.

While Othello was ready to win, Kiona-Benton wasn't ready to lose.

Both teams swapped leads 32 times in the four-game match that prevented each side from grabbing momentum. Only in the third game when the Bears built a 15-0 lead to start the game, the lead never switched sides.

Which proved Othello's ability to capitalize on the errors committed by Kiona-Benton committed in the three games lost.

"Kiona-Benton is an awesome program and quality team and I respect them, but tonight we were the better team," Parris said. "We made some mistakes, but theirs came at the wrong time."

Kassi Spohr opened the first game with a kill down the line for the Othello's first lead in the game. Jennifer Jensen extended the Huskies' lead to 4-2, but an Othello violation and Spohr kill attempt into the net tied the game at 4-4.

Roni Feth and Nicole Wolfe hit kills each to give the Bears a 9-7 lead. Othello's Melody Garza blocked two Kiona-Benton kill attempts for another and Jensen hit a kill and blocked another Bear attempt to give the Huskies a 17-13 lead in the game.

Othello lost the lead one more time, but rallied late in the game to pick up a 26-24 win. Game two paralleled the first as both teams exchanged leads nine times, but the Huskies were able to punch out a 25-21 win.

Kiona-Benton turned the winning ways of Othello around and put up 15 straight points to stun the Huskies. Feth served up with three aces during the run, Chelsea Allen had two kills and Othello committed five unforced errors during the run.

"We had some rough spots there, but after we gave up the 15 straight points, we outscored them 16-10," Parris said about game three's performance.

After taking a 25-16 loss in the third game, the Huskies went back to the sweet spot and found what it lacked on the other side of the court.

Othello led 6-5 early in the game when the Bears' Cassie Cueto and Feth put together straight kills for the lead, but momentum continued to hover over each side.

After a timeout at the tail end of the match, Othello's Jensen finished off a rally with her 12th kill of the match to give the Huskies a 25-23 win to clinch the match. Jensen also finished with 18 digs in the win. Sophomore middle-hitter Ashley Walker had 12 kills and 14 blocks while setter Villarreal had 20 assists and 16 digs to help Othello capture the win.

"I didn't relax at all," Parris said. "It was an intense match and Kiona-Benton played great."