Ken Roberts
For The New Era
Sweet Home’s volleyball team nearly pulled off an upset victory over Taft last Thursday at home when they came back from a five-point deficit to win the first game, 26-24.
However, Taft’s taller line up began to take control and the Tigers took the next three games, 25-17, 25-12, and 25-22.
Earlier in the week with a match at Philomath, Sweet Home drubbed the Warriors, 25-21, 25-19, and 25-13.
Michelle Cliver’s serving propelled the Huskies to early leads in all three game. Philomath never held the lead in any game during the match. With the Warriors’ lack of offense, Sweet Home was able to get into their offense more and setter Julie Burcham spread the action around. Sara Brocard led the Huskies in kills, but Bre Messmer, Kami White, and Jessalyn Seiber all had moments to contribute at the net, either with kills or blocks.
Despite the final score, the third game was the closest game until the service rotations of Cliver and Burcham, who popped three consecutive aces. During that stretch the Huskies demoralized Philomath with the 11-2 run.
“It was a confidence builder,” said coach Debbie Danielson. “They were feeling strong. We had a good talk going into the Taft match.”
Unfortunately, at key moments, the confidence faltered when the match was on. But not in game one. It appeared that the Huskies would lose the opener to Taft, trailing 21-24 when Danielson called a timeout.
From that point, Sweet Home took control at the net to earn five straight points. Messmer’s hard hit was mishandled, which brought the serve back to the Huskies with Messmer taking on that task as well. Following a Taft net infraction, Seiber blocked a Warrior hit that Brocard tipped for another point. Brocard stepped up for the final two points as well, first a block and then a kill.
In games two and three, the Tigers applied the pressure with their attack, keeping the Huskies on their heels. Taft had seven kills in each game but also enough hard hits to prevent Sweet Home from getting into its offense.
“When things got tighter, we stopped running our plays,” said Danielson.
Cliver felt the team wasn’t passing effectively enough to create an attack.
“In practice, we run our plays,” said Cliver. “In games, if we don’t have the pass, it’s difficult to run the play. But we need to be smarter in our offense and placement.”
Serve receiving and passing became critical factors in the fourth game. After playing the Tigers straight up into the middle of the game, Taft’s toughest server unleashed four difficult serves that were shanked. But the Huskies, with Burcham’s tough serves, came right back when Messmer delivered a kill and a tip and Brocard added a kill to put the Taft lead back to one.
Then the Huskies had problems with passing, mishandling Tiger hits five times in the last seven points.
Danielson gave credit to Taft for both their offense and defense. Even though Sweet Home met their goals in serving, the Huskies had very few aces. Besides being able to receive and pass effectively, the difference maker was Taft’s pressure on their attack and blocking scheme.
“In our attack, we are just not putting enough balls away,” Danielson stated.
Cliver is concerned about the team’s competitive growth.
“We need to be able to finish games and be consistent,” Cliver explained. “We really haven’t done that yet.”
The Huskies, with their 2-4 record, are now in a must-win situation in order to finish in the league’s top two.
The Newport home game is an absolute must on Tuesday and then they finish the week at undefeated Central on Thursday. On the weekend, they go to Seaside for their last tournament of the year.