The 'Wave Marches On, Beats Oak Hall for District Final Spot

Tuesday night, the P.K. Yonge Blue Wave (5-11, 3-2) squared off against the Oak Hall Eagles (8-12, 0-5) for the first round of the 4A Region 1-District 1 Volleyball Playoffs. The Blue Wave came into the game with confidence, winning the last two matchups against the Eagles earlier this year.

Sophomore Jaqueline Mueller got the Blue Wave off to a good start earlier in the first set with four consecutive service points to start the game. The Blue Wave grabbed ahold of that early lead and never looked back, being able to maintain a comfortable lead all set and sail to a 25-22 victory.

“With a young team like this, the game is a roller coaster,” first year head coach Anthony Dacanay said. “It’s all about ups and downs. When were up, as you can see, we usually stay up.”

This was apparent during the second set as the Blue Wave won with ease in a 25-18 victory, again holding the lead and never letting it go all game. However, the third set was a completely different story. The Eagles soared back in the third set, taking advantage of the Blue Wave’s poor start.

“We were too confident going into the third set, and they took advantage of it,” said junior Riley Holloway. Junior Cameron Childs also felt the third set was a disappointing one.

“We didn’t execute fully,” Childs said. We thought it was in the bag, but they wanted it more and played like it too.”

The mental state of the young, yet talented team after the second set is what handed them their 13-25 loss. The Blue Wave were able to recover in the fourth making it the final set, but not without the Eagles putting up a fight. The fourth set was tightly contested, but P.K. was able to pull away at the end with a 25-17 victory dominating the last few serves.

With a 3-1 victory, the Blue Wave were able to keep their season alive and advance to the tournament final which will be played against Tallahassee-Maclay on tomorrow at six p.m.