Sweet Home’s volleyball team lost 3-1 at Philomath Thursday, Sept. 3, but new Huskies Head Coach Mary Hutchins was encouraged.
Her team won the first game 25-15 as Warriors Head Coach Joyce Stringer, also in her first season in that role, shuffled her line-up around.
By the start of Game 2 the hosts were starting to look like the perennial state power they’ve been in recent years, coming back with a vengeance to win 25-9.
“We had a ton of calls against us,” Hutchins said. “Several girls got called for doubling the ball. The second game was a disaster.”
Sweet Home responded with vigor in the third and fourth games, both 25-23 losses.
“It was just a battle,” Hutchins said. “We battled every step of the way. I was really pleased with the girls energy and how they interacted on the floor.”
Molly Fisher and Ally Tow finished with four kills and Kayley Lopez had 12 blocks to lead the Huskies. Madisen Barringer had seven.
“Josie Knight had an amazing block,” Hutchins said. “She stuffed this girl. She came from all the way across the court and solo blocked her.”
Fisher served 15 points, while Barringer finished with 12 from the service line.
“Our serving was 95 percent as a team,” Hutchins said. “It was awesome.”
“It is good for us to play better teams,” she said of Philomath. “They are a tough opponent. They’re going to be a strong team, I think.”
But, she said, she believes the Huskies can compete with those teams.
“We actually did really well. May personal opinion is that we could have beaten them.”
Up next for the Huskies , on Tuesday, Sept. 8, is a road game at Corbett, another team expected to finish high in the state rankings. The Huskies have not beaten the Cardinals in two years.