Sweet Home’s volleyball team has gotten off to a slow start, going winless in all of the Huskies’ preseason matches.
But Coach Alicia Meier said the Huskies have learned from those experiences.
“We’ve learned a lot about our team, what we need to do,” she said. “I feel pretty good going into league.”
After having what would have been their first home match cancelled due to thunderstorms on Sept. 5, the Huskies lost 3-1 at Philomath Tuesday, Sept. 10, then lost by the same score to Stayton on Thursday at home.
Philomath 3, Sweet Home 1
The Huskies opened the match with a 25-21 win in the first game, keeping the talented Warriors off balance.
“We just kind of got them out of their game,” Meier said. “They have a great team, a really strong team. We just came out strong, with really great service. Then they started playing well.”
The hosts came back and drove to increasingly extended win margins, 25-18 in Game 2, 25-15 in Game 3 and 25-10 in Game 4, to win the match.
Stayton 3, Sweet Home 1
Finally playing at home, the familiar environs didn’t help Sweet Home enough to win, as the match took the same pattern as the one at Philomath, except that this time the Huskies kept things closer. Sweet Home won the first game 25-21, and then lost the next three 25-23, 25-20 and 25-22.
“We paired up really well with them,” Meier said. “We came out strong, but then we started to sit back. Basically, we lost the whole match because of our own mistakes.”
Missing 11 serves in the match was enough to lose it for them, she said, since strong service and receiving is a vital part of the Huskies’ game.
“We didn’t serve well and we defeated ourselves. We aren’t the type of team that can have two girls play well. It depends if five or six want to step up because that’s what they have to do to win.”
The Huskies are opening Sky-Em League play this week against La Pine on Tuesday and hosting Sisters Thursday, both matches at 6:45 p.m. The Hawks come into the match 3-3,with wins over Taft, Douglas and 1A Chiloquin, and losses to Burns, Cascade and Banks – all, both wins and losses, by sweeps.
Sisters is 4-2 with losses to Crook County (3-2) and Cascade (2-1). The Outlaws, some of whom play year-round in Bend-area clubs, have beaten Madras (3-1), Cottage Grove (2-0), 5A Mountain View (3-0) and 5A Summit (3-1).
Meier said the league is kind of a question mark as the competition begins. Elmira lost to Philomath by the same score Sweet Home did – 3-1 and that has Meier’s attention.
“It’s just kind of interesting,” she said.
“Going into league, we know what we need to do to win. We have to serve tough and we have to receive tough. We all have to play well.”
Meier said one thing she’s learned in the pre-season is that she needs to substitute more.
“We are getting tired in games. I need to change some things up so players stay fresh. The type of game we play is scrappy and hopefully it makes the other team tired, but we can’t get tired. We still need to be able to compete in game three, four.”