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Huskies finish solid second in OWC volleyball, head to post-season

Sweet Home’s volleyball team finished second in the Oregon West Conference last week, ending the regular season with a 3-0 win at home over North Marion Thursday evening.

The Huskies lost earlier in the week at Philomath, which pulled even with Sweet Home in the standings, but the Warriors couldn’t keep their momentum in their final match at fourth-place Stayton, losing 3-0.

“Finishing second in our league is a big accomplishment,” Coach Mary Hutchins said.

The Huskies (7-3, 12-6) were to host Junction City (1-7, 5-16) in a play-in game Tuesday, Oct. 25, with the winner moving on to the 16-team state playoff bracket, likely to face Henley in Klamath Falls on Saturday, Oct. 29. The Junction City match took place after The New Era went to press.

“Junction City is a team that has grown throughout the season and solidified a more consistent lineup in the last half of the season,” Hutchins said of the Tigers, whom Sweet Home defeated in their season-opener at home on Aug. 30. 25-13, 25-13, 25-9.

“Their record does not show a ton of wins but they have been playing mostly top-10 teams most of the season and have had some very competitive scores in the month of October,” Hutchins said. “So we are watching film and practicing specifically for them and hoping to pull off the win on Tuesday. They are a very scrappy team and return the ball very consistently so  I am hoping nerves will not be a factor for us and we can execute on our side of the court.”

Sweet Home was ranked 10th in the state following the North Marion loss. Junction City finished the regular season ranked 22nd.

In a statewide coaches poll, which does not impact playoff seeding, Sweet Home entered the playoffs ranked 11th, bumped out of the top 10 by Henley, which descended from No. 7. Marist moved up from not being ranked to No. 8, while Marshfield (19-3) was the coaches’ top choice, followed by Cascade (15-3), The Dalles (20-2) and Tillamook (14-4).

Sweet Home 3, North Marion 0

The Huskies wound up their regular season and celebrated Senior Night for their three departees, seniors Zoey Erevia, Avery Nelson and Makayla Guthrie, with an efficient win over North Marion, which has the same team name/mascot, 25-10, 25-15, 25-10.

“We were celebrating our three seniors and came out once again with different lineups,” Hutchins said. “We worked hard to control the ball on our side of the net. We did a good job of staying focused and doing our individual jobs and supporting each other as teammates.”

Philomath 3, Sweet Home 1

The Huskies, who had beaten Philomath 3-1 at home three weeks previously, struggled to stay consistent in the Warriors’ gym in the 25-22, 22-25, 25-14, 25-21 loss on the road.

“We played them tough in moments but in other moments we had too many unforced errors,” Hutchins said. “We are dealing with some absences due to illness and so we used some different lineups this week.   We had opportunities to win but in those moments we were not able to capitalize. If we had controlled our unforced errors in two of those sets, it would have changed the overall outcome of that game.”

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