Benny Westcott
Sweet Home volleyball started off the season with wins in straight sets at Junction City and at home against Molalla last week. They beat the Tigers 30-28, 25-11, 25-15 on Aug. 29 and the Indians 25-10, 25-6, 25-4 on Aug. 31.
“Against Junction City we were trying a new rotation and lineup,” said Head Coach Mary Hutchins. “The girls started the first set and right out of the gate had to work out some nerves. We were behind most of the first set and were making some errors on our side of the net. They were mostly communication errors and letting balls drop between people because they were hesitating on whose ball it was.
“This is very common at the beginning of the season,” the coach said. “Then we started to make a run, and I was proud of the girls. They did not give up and fought off several set points to win the set 30-28. The following two sets we served well and got more consistent within our rotation and took care of business.”
Hutchins described the team’s second game against Molalla as a “pretty one sided match.”
She stated that “Unfortunately Molalla is a younger team with not a lot of returners, and they were really struggling in serve receive, so there were not a lot of rallies. Everyone on the team got some court time. We are now preparing for a very tough match ahead with an experienced state championship team in Marshfield that returns their whole roster.”
That match at Marshfield is set for 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 5.