The Island junior high volleyball season resumed on Tuesday with the Tisbury Tigers visiting the Oak Bluffs Blazers.
The Tigers were playing their first match of the season, after having their first two postponed. Oak Bluffs looked to pick up a second win in as many starts.
Oak Bluffs stormed out to a 12-3 lead in the first set, and held on to win 25-16 behind solid serving from Lila Mikos, Jacob Gurney, and Max Potter, but Tisbury stormed back, winning straight sets, and the match, three sets to one.
Tisbury’s Charlotte Packer was the story in set two, helping the Tigers win 16 consecutive points with her steady and accurate underhand serve. Lila Mikos and Peter Gillis served up 11 winning points between them to cut the deficit to 21-16, but Gabby Vieira responded with some stellar play to help Tisbury win the set 25-16 and even the match.
The third set was a seesaw battle. Tisbury fed off a strong start to lead 23-15. The Blazers fought back to tie the score after Max Potter handcuffed the Tigers with eight powerful overhand serves. Tisbury stopped the Cottage City surge when Sean Splitgerber countered a Blazer shot by slapping a winner from an acute angle across the net from far right to far left. Nate Porterfield nailed down the 25-23 victory with a service winner.
Nate Porterfield picked up where he left off in the fourth set by serving the Tigers out of a 5-3 deficit and into a 9-5 lead. Both teams were sharp in a series of back-and-forth rallies. Andrew Marchand kept the Blazers close with superb net play, mixing powerful spikes with skillful dinks.
Down the stretch, Tisbury’s Washington Alves took over with his own standout play at the net, as the Tigers pulled away to clinch the match with a 25-19 fourth-set win.