Sweet Home kicks off its volleyball season with the standard conference jamboree at the host site, Central High School, this Friday.
The Huskies will have an unusually young squad this year, led by the lone senior, outside hitter Paige Niemi. While they do have an additional five juniors returning off the varsity from last year, they also have two sophomores and four freshmen.
The jamboree will give head coach Debbie Danielson a chance to see her squad work together and help determine where each player fits in.
“Jamborees are so funny,” said Danielson. “Some teams don’t play their best kids, so it’s not going to be what we see when we play them in league.”
It’s just as well. Danielson wants to see how their defense is improving and how the team plays together, especially the new players. She has fewer concerns than one might expect because many of the young players played club ball last year and during the summer, so Danielson has seen them play well against strong competition
“We went to Reno for a week and played against some strong teams,” explained Danielson. “They can rise to the occasion.”
Danielson will be primarily evaluating her talent and looking for defensive improvement.
“We have to be scrappier on defense,” she said.
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Sweet Home’s soccer, cross-country and water polo teams will open their seasons next week, after the start of school. Soccer schedules were still being finalized at press time, but the water polo team is scheduled to open at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 3, at home and the cross-country team at Newport on Sept. 6.