Scott Swanson
After a four-year dearth of state volleyball playoff appearances, has the Huskies’ moment arrived?
That’s the question Sweet Home will need to answer this year as the Huskies, blessed with some real height (for the first time in years), experience and talent, move into a season that includes a brutal road schedule.
Sweet Home actually will only have five regular-season home games – all versus league opponents, beginning Sept. 29, which may add incentive to make a deep playoff run, just for another chance to play at home or close to it.
“It’s a very tough schedule. We’ll be traveling a lot,” said Mary Hutchins, who enters her first year as head coach after five seasons as an assistant to now-departed Coach Alicia Meier, who stepped down earlier this year because her family was moving to Washington. She will be assisted by Shauna Baxter and Michelle Knight, along with volunteer assistants Emily McGee and Hailey Fisher.
Hutchins said she’s well aware of the Huskies’ struggles last year on the way to a fourth-place league finish with a 4-6 record, 9-13 overall.
Sweet Home started the season in promising fashion, upsetting Philomath in an early home match and then losing that momentum for most of the remaining season.
“The only teams we beat were Cottage Grove and Junction City,” she said. “It was pretty rough.
“Last year we felt like we could not get our consistency going. Philomath was our best game. We could never replicate that.”
Well, that was then and this is now. The Huskies have experience and they have numbers – 33 girls. Though they have lost Sierra Thayer, Carlie Somatis, McKenzie Cochran and Jordan Miller to graduation, “basically, our entire varsity is back,” Hutchins said.
Back is a line-up of gifted players who were starters on last year’s squad.
They include the triple towers, sophomores Kayley Lopez and Ally Tow, and junior Madisen Barringer, all close to 6 feet.
“We have height,” Hutchins said. “We want to capitalize on our height and energy.”
Tow and Barringer are expected to provide a lot of the latter.
Barringer, the coach said, “is just solid all around. The girls feed off her energy.
“Ally has energy and timing and she’s just really athletic. Kayley has great attitude.”
She said Lopez will provide key blocking and hitting, while she expects Tow to provide “strong” play from the service line and Barringer to play a lot in the back row.
“She is a pretty good passer,” Hutchins said.
Senior Josie Knight brings athleticism and experience to the court. Knight plays tall and can literally hit from anywhere.
“She jumps out of the court,” Hutchins said. “It’s amazing to watch her block next to Kayley.”
Also back are Rebecca Wooley, who will set and “hits well from the right side,” and Molly Fisher, who played a lot on defense last year.
“She hits on the outside and she does well in the back row – she has a great serve,” the coach said of Fisher.
Rounding out the varsity are Lola Wingo, Brittany Nicholson, Gracie Olson, Kelsie Olhausen and Moriah Gingerich, who have moved up from the junior varsity.
Junior varsity team members are Kelika Aiona, Kylie Armstrong, Sunhee Bitter, Brianna Hoffman, Samantha Hutchins, Mackenna Melbye, Natasha Rasmussen, Mariah Thayer, Caylie Trewin, Alana VanEck and Rose Wingo.
Junior Varsity II players are Aliyah Boss, Allison Brown, Kylee Ceccato, Samantha Coats, Anna Coleman, Kate Hawken, Marissa Kurtz, Kayla Miller, Alana Silver, Hailey Silver and Kennedi Waldrop.
“I’m excited about the whole team,” Hutchins said. “It’s a great group. We’ve talked about how we’re going to set high expectations for the season. We have big goals we are going to reach.”
Among those is a top-three finish in what Hutchins says will be a league that is “tough, like usual,” though she doesn’t know too many specifics about the other teams going into the season.
The pre-season road schedule opens at Philomath on Thursday, Sept. 3, follows that with a match at Corbett on Sept. 8 and then the Cascade Tournament on Sept. 12, where the Huskies open against Henley.
“Philomath and Corbett are going to be tough and the Cascade Tournament has a lot of top teams,” Hutchins said.
“Sisters is a powerhouse. I’ve heard that Junction City and Sutherlin will be good too. I haven’t heard anything about Cottage Grove or Elmira.”
Nonetheless, the Huskies’ goal is to finish in the top three in the league and make the playoffs.
“We’re conditioning really hard and I’m super pumped,” she said. “I’m excited about the whole team.
“They’re a great group. We’ve talked about how we’re going to set high expectations for the season – big goals that we’re going to reach.”