Sports
Oakville Volleyball Loses a Heartbreaker at Villa Duchesne
The Tigers fell to the Saints 26-24, 17-25, 26-24 Wednesday night at Villa.
The Oakville girls volleyball team had their first true test of the 2011 season Wednesday night.
The Tigers came within a point of acing their early season test as they fell to Villa Duchesne, 26-24, 17-25, 26-24 at Villa.
The Saints have been one of the strongest Class 3 teams in the state in recent years. They return most of the nucleus of the team that finished second in state in 2009, won 26 games and were undefeated in the MWAA Red Division last season.
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But Oakville played with the Saints from beginning to end Wednesday night and had a match point with a 24-23 lead in the third game.
"I would have to give the girls a grade of A-minus tonight," Oakville coach Morgan Lucas said. "I would give them an A-plus if they had pulled out the win but overall I am very happy.
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"Right now we just need to learn how to finish. You have to try to get the job done when the match is on the line."
Oakville battled back after losing the first game with a dominant performance in the second game as junior middle hitter Sarah Makowski took over at the end of the game.
The Tigers trailed for most of the third and deciding game but came back and took the lead at 20-19 after a kill by Abby Pourcillie.
Oakville would lead 22-20 before Villa came back with three consecutive points.
But the momentum would change once again as Makowski had another big kill to tie the game and the Tigers found themselves one point away from a signature victory.
Villa showed its championship character with a huge block on match point and the game ended when Annie Leonard's kill attempt went wide.
"It was a heartbreaking loss," Makowski said. "It is tough when you come so close. We still have a few kinks to work out but I think we showed tonight that we can keep up with almost every team."
Sometimes the best lessons are learned with heart-breaking losses.
"Are we disappointed that we lost such a close match? Yes," Lucas said. "But are we disappointed with the way we played? Absolutely not. This was the best competition we have played and this was probably our best match of the season. I think it shows what we are capable of in the future."
The loss was the first of the season for the Tigers after three consecutive victories.