Photo by Barry Stephenson
Oak Mountain Volleyball
The Oak Mountain High School volleyball team is shown at the Juanita Boddie Tournament at Hoover High School on Sept. 2, 2017.
Tien Le liked the fight his Oak Mountain High School volleyball team displayed at home Thursday night. Sure, the Class 7A No. 3 Eagles fell to top-ranked McGill Toolen in straight sets (19-25, 21-25, 9-25), but the final line makes the match appear deceptively one-sided.
Oak Mountain had its chances.
“McGill came out and was tough and had us on the rope, and we fought back,” said Le, the Eagles coach. “We felt like we had our opportunities the first two sets.”
After falling behind early in the opening frame, Oak Mountain’s Ashley Treace dove on the floor to make a full-extension dig. The velocity of the ball carried it off her forearms and over the net, where it landed on an unmanned pocket of hardwood.
The point helped spark an Eagles’ run that cut McGill-Toolen’s edge from six points to two. The Yellow Jackets called a timeout up 18-16 and won seven of the next 10 points.
Oak Mountain played even tighter in the second set, which began with a block and cross-court kill from Torie Denkers. The teams were tied 5-5, 11-11, 17-17 and 19-19. But the Eagles never took the lead. As soon as they pulled even, McGill-Toolen landed an immediate counterpunch. The Yellow Jackets closed the set on a 6-2 burst.
They then parlayed that momentum into the lopsided final frame.
“They’re a lot faster right now than they were when we last played them,” Le said. “I felt like that’s what made the difference tonight.”
Oak Mountain faced McGill-Toolen at the Juanita Boddie Tournament in September. It was the teams’ first meeting since the Yellow Jackets eliminated the Eagles from the 2016 state tournament. Oak Mountain won the first set of that September match, but it eventually fell, 2-1 (25-16, 17-25, 9-15).
Le said he hopes that Thursday’s tilt enabled his squad to establish further familiarity with a team it may see again at this year’s state tournament.
“That’s the reason why we were able and fortunate enough to schedule this match,” Le said.
McGill-Toolen, which is located in Mobile, traveled to Birmingham to play Oak Mountain in advance of this weekend’s Margaret Blalock Tournament at Homewood.
Oak Mountain will take the weekend off as it prepares to host Spain Park on Tuesday for a pivotal 7A, Area 6 match.
“If we win that, then we’ll win our area and we’ll get to host the area tournament,” Le said.
