In their second season of play, the Oakdale High School varsity volleyball boys took the home court Friday night. The team took on Riverbank and battled to a 3-0 victory over the Bruins.

Oakdale took the first set 25-19. In the second set Oakdale trailed 14-15 and coach Kelly Nasrawi called timeout. Shortly thereafter, Oakdale’s Bryson Boyd spiked the ball to e bring Oakdale within one 15-16. With the set later tied at 18, Oakdale took a 19-18 advantage. Later, a Declan Edwards block gave the Mustangs a 23-20 lead. Jacob Kindrick finished the set with a game winning point for a 25-21 victory.

The third set was a dramatic nailbiter. Down 5-8, Boyd spiked the ball for a point to make it 6-8. The teams battled for the next few points, then Drew Arbuckle made a diving play to give the Mustangs a 14-12 advantage. Later in the set it would be tied at 17. The host Mustangs took a 19-18 lead; however, the Bruins would go on a 5-2 run to regain the lead and were within a point of winning the seat, the visiting Bruins leading 24-22. Tanner Humphrey brought the Mustangs to within one with a point and on the next play, Humphrey served and a spike by Boyd tied it at 24. The Mustangs continued their momentum and won 26-24.

“I think we have been working on staying in it and completing comeback situations. They are competitive and full of pride and drive. They are learning, and tonight was a big step forward in that,” said coach Nasrawi.

This is the second year of play for the program but only four of the current players competed last year.

“This is a fresh program for our school and with only a few players who played last year we cannot compare last year to this year. This group is a diverse group of athletes,” the coach added.

One of the returning players is Humphrey.

“I played baseball before but realized I wanted a fresh start, and when I heard volleyball was coming to our school I wanted to be a part of it. We all grew up together and have a chemistry,” Humphrey noted.

Friday night, March 8 the boys are scheduled to host Downey at 6 p.m.