Oak Hall volleyball soars over Mandarin Christian

The Oak Hall Eagles continue to soar in the postseason, following up their district tournament championship performance of last week with a convincing 3-0 win over Jacksonville Mandarin Christian in Region 1-1A quarterfinal action Tuesday night at the Oak Hall gym.

Mandarin Christian, which ended the season at 15-5, was making its first regional tournament appearance, and head coach Cari Martin’s Oak Hall squad, which improved to 17-10 with the win, made it a brief one.

“I’m very pleased with the way we’re playing,” said Martin, whose young but talented squad has no seniors on the roster. “Actually I think a lot of that has to do with our schedule. I took a chance on doing this schedule with an inexperienced team that had only five returning players and two returning starters. We’ve lost 10 times, but seven of those 10 came in tournaments against teams that were ranked in the top 50 in the nation. That tough schedule has really paid off for us.”

Oak Hall, which prevailed by scores of 25-11, 25-13 and 25-15, showed its youth early-on as the Eagles allowed Mandarin Christian to race to an 8-2 lead in the opening set. But the homestanding Eagles regrouped and, behind the serves of sophomore Emily VanGelder, reeled off 12 unanswered points to take a 15-8 lead, with VanGelder recording three service aces during the run.

Oak Hall would never trail again in the match. Mandarin Christian would get as close as 17-12 in the second set before losing to fall into an 0-2 hole. Martin’s squad then pulled away from a slim 8-5 lead in the third and final set to win going away, with the match-clinching point appropriately enough coming on a kill by junior middle blocker Tina Toghiyani, who led all players with a match-high 14 kills while adding seven digs.

VanGelder played a superb all-around match, registering 12 digs, nine kills and a match-high six service aces for Oak Hall, while junior Danielle Ellis added 10 digs and three aces. Freshman setter McKenzie Hollen was also solid, contributing 11 digs and a match-high 26 assists, and junior Katie O’Meara added eight kills, eight digs and three aces.

Mandarin Christian was led by sophomore outside hitter Dori Takacs with five kills.

Oak Hall moves on to the Region 1-1A semifinals next Tuesday. The Eagles will host a familiar foe in district rival Ocala St. John Lutheran (15-12), which defeated Jacksonville Eagle’s View (17-7) in straight sets in another quarterfinal match.