Othello volleyball shares the wealth in easy win

Villareal's injury gives Lady Huskies a chance to show off versatility

OTHELLO - The week of Homecoming isn't the ideal time for most high school kids to stay focused, and the Othello Lady Huskies were no different in their volleyball match with the Wapato Wolves on Tuesday night.

But despite a less-than-stellar performance, the Huskies stayed focused and got contributions throughout their lineup to earn a 25-12, 25-17, 25-15 Central Washington Athletic Conference victory at PJ Taggares Gymnasium.

Othello (3-4 CWAC) did a lot of shifting Tuesday night, partly out of necessity. Junior setter Justin Villareal injured her shoulder last Thursday at Grandview, leading Huskies head coach Steve Parris into a different rotation.

Senior Kayla Dickson played setter for the first two games, recording 11 assists and two serving aces. Junior Allison Walker, who normally splits time between outside hitter and middle blocker, set for the third game and wound up with six kills, three assists and three digs.

"In the second and third games we got a little sloppy with a few things, but we played well enough to win," Parris said. "We got to move some kids around, they got to try some different stuff."

Othello certainly didn't lose much by having Walker at setter against an overmatched Wolves squad. Villareal is out indefinitely, which means Walker will likely have more chances to show off her ball distribution skills.

"Ali's a very good setter," Parris said. "To be honest, I hate to lose her defensively, but we need somebody to set.

"If you notice, she's probably better when she jumps and sets than when she stays on the ground," he added. "She's got great hands, beautiful body control up there at the net."

A few other changes were in order as well, involving seniors Priscilla Cantu and juniors Jessica Schmidt and Wendy Salgado.

"We had to put Priscilla on the right side, which is the place she played all of last year for us," Parris said. "That put Jessi subbing in for Kayla in the front row in the first two games. Third game we had Jessi playing the middle, which is where I hope we have her playing next year."

Salgado appeared in her first varsity match of the season, lending depth to the defensive specialist position. Senior Oli Lopez continues to start at libero, with senior Kristynn Garza seeing more action because of her strong serve. That's a nice problem to have, Parris indicated.

"Once Justine gets healthy and we've got everybody here, we've got some thinking to do about how we're going to run things," he said.

Dickson's six consecutive service points opened the match and Othello was never threatened in game one. Lopez later had a 6-0 run of her own, serving two aces, as Othello built a 17-5 lead.

Cantu served six straight points to open game two and Walker blasted several of her kills during the period. Kylee Mollotte, who finished with seven kills and six digs, also got into the act.

Wapato's Denise Smiscon had a team-high four kills and five digs. Teammate Hayley Strom had three kills and five digs, while Joey Estrada had two kills.

The Lady Huskies have a chance to even their conference mark Thursday night when they host the Toppenish Wildcats at 7 p.m. It's a match that presents a challenge, however, as Toppenish was tied for second place in the CWAC South Division entering Tuesday's action.

"It's a team we should do well against," Parris said. "It's Homecoming week and we'll have a big crowd here on Thursday night."