Sweet Home’s volleyball team (3-10) secured a 3-0 victory at home against North Marion (1-7) on Oct. 1, but fell short with a 3-1 loss on the road against Stayton (8-8) on Oct. 3.
Coach Katie Dargis praised her team’s serving in the North Marion match, where Sweet Home served 93% of their serves in bounds.
“Overall, I was really happy with our minimal errors at the serving line,” Dargis said.
Trinity Victor led the team with a perfect 23-for-23 serving performance, including five aces. Kaitlyn Kennedy served 4-for-4 with one ace, while Aaliyah Brown was 13-for-13 with one ace. Karissa Jewell was able to finish the match at 18-for-19 from the line.
Offensively, Kennedy and Sophia Stock each tallied eight kills. Tiara Reynolds and Brown added seven kills apiece, with Brown converting 7-of-10 attack attempts into kills. Defensively, Jewell and Miley Smith each recorded eight digs, while Victor added nine.
“It was a good win,” Dargis said. “It was good to see the girls be so successful on their home court.”
Sweet Home faced a tougher challenge on Oct. 3, losing to Stayton 3-1.The team finished with a 95% serving accuracy, with five players serving 100%. Jewell was 11-for-11, Smith served 15-for-15, and Victor, Kennedy, and Brown finished perfect from the line with 9-for-9, 14-for-14, and 10-for-10, respectively.
“That’s five athletes who served 100% with no missed errors from the serving line. That was awesome because it’s hard when we give up points on the serving line,” Dargis said.
Kennedy led the attack with seven kills, followed by Reynolds with six, Keira Johnson with five, and both Newberry and Brown adding four each. Newberry and Brown stood out with just one attack error each on the night.
“I’m just really proud of how they took every set with intent. We’ve been working on that,” Dargis said. “You have to take each set with a different intent of what you can do with that ball. They did a good job using their brains on that to find good placement on the court.”
Jewell also shined defensively, finishing with 33 digs. Kennedy contributed 11 digs from the back row.
Despite the loss, Dargis remained optimistic about the team’s effort and attitude.
“Overall, I’m really proud of their efforts. They had a great level of positivity and intensity throughout the entire match,” she said. “Even though we lost, they really had good attitudes about their individual performances.”
The Sweet Home volleyball team continues their league season (2-2), building off these early matches.