Naches blocked from win

Sophomore middle-hitter Ashley Walker finished with 22 blocks for Othello

Ashley Walker never gave Naches a chance.

The Othello sophomore middle-hitter patrolled the net vigorously in pursuit to eliminate the Rangers from winning a game. The Huskies followed Walker's lead with a 3-1 (25-22, 23-25, 25-18, 25-12) win.

"Walker ended the night with 22 blocks and she got a lot of blocks that should have gone down," said Othello head coach Steve Parris.

Walker had assistance from fellow hitters Aubree Anderson and Jennifer Jensen, whose guard at the net completely shutdown the Rangers in the final game.

"The great thing about our team is we can block and that will be a major thing for us this year," said returning all-league hitter Jensen.

While the first two games flip-flopped in momentum, the Huskies found security in their serves in the final two games to change momentum.

Stacie Villarreal finished 19-for-19 serving in the the four games and Jensen followed with 22-23 serving with eight aces. Melody Garza finished the final game with seven straight serves for the win.

"That was a big advantage for us in the late games," Parris said.

Naches took advantage of its win in the second game to pull ahead 4-1 at the start of game three. Garza added an ace in her first serve of the game to close the lead to 4-2.

Walker took control of the serve with Othello trailing 8-7 and put the Huskies back into a groove.

Garza gave Othello the lead at 10-9 and after a Naches timeout, Walker added an ace for a two-point lead. Garza was handed the ball and led the Huskies to an 18-13 lead from the service line.

Othello manufactured points to pick up a 25-18 win in the third game and staved off any attack from the Rangers.

Villarreal opened the fourth game with four straight points, two of which were aces, setting the tone for Othello at the service line the final game.

The Huskies went perfect from the line and Garza finished out the match with a perfect run that put the Rangers away 25-12.

"I wouldn't say we played much better in game four, I think Naches gave up at the end," Parris said.