In their league opener, the Oakdale High School varsity girls volleyball team earned a 3-0 home win over Patterson. The contest took place on Tuesday, Sept. 10. Oakdale had lost seven straight contests heading into the opener but the Lady Mustangs came out strong for the home crowd.

In the first set, Oakdale fell behind late 20-22. With the game on the line, Oakdale was down 23-24 but tied the game. A block by Avery Gleason gave Oakdale a 25-24 lead. Samantha Blanc’s serve gave the Mustangs a 26-24 thrilling win.

The second set was full of drama early as the two teams exchanged points and it was tied at 7-7. Oakdale rattled off a 4-0 run to go up 11-7 resulting in a Tigers timeout. Leah Sales and Blanc showed their athleticism by earning a block to go up 11-9. Gleason hit the ball between a pair of Tigers to land for a point to extend the advantage to 16-11. Gleason and Jaelyn Ghiglia got a block and gave Oakdale a 24-13 lead. Taylor Krum finished that game with an ace.

The third and final set saw Oakdale pull away early. Ghiglia showed her strength by hitting the ball between two Tigers to go up 8-3. Later, Lauren Ghiglia served up an ace to go up 13-4. Krum tapped it over for another Mustangs point to go up 15-5. Patterson made a small run to make it 19-11, time out Oakdale. Jaelyn Ghiglia scored on back-to-back plays to go up 22-12. A few points later, Ghiglia smashed the ball off a pair of Tigers’ hands to give the host team a 25-12 victory.

“This was a great way to open Valley Oak League play. The girls were really focused tonight,” said Coach Kaitlin Burke. “The improvement showed from the last game we played.”

Oakdale hosted Mountain House on Sept. 12 but lost in three sets, 13-25, 20-25, 23-25. The girls will be back on the home court hosting Sierra on Thursday, Sept. 19 with a start time of 6:15 p.m.