Sweet Home rolled over La Pine in volleyball on Tuesday, Oct. 4, but fell to league leader Sisters at Thursday, both at home. The Huskies spent Saturday at the Seaside Tournament, where they won all of their pool play games before falling to LaSalle in the championship bracket.
Sweet Home 3, La Pine 0
The Huskies were clearly in control from the get-go Tuesday, dispatching the Hawks 25-12, 25-15, 25-7.
“It was one of those games where they were struggling a little bit with their serves and receives,” Coach Alicia Meier said of the visitors. “Our goal was not to play down, to play our level of volleyball. It was pretty uneventful and that was good for our girls. We had pretty good serving.”
Sisters 3, Sweet Home 0
The Outlaws showed why they are considered one of the state’s top 4A squads, putting the Huskies away 25-20, 25-18, 25-19 Thursday.
Meier said her girls played well but couldn’t quite get the ball rolling their way during the match.
“Sisters came in confident, ready to play,” Meier said. “They came in focused.
“Our girls played great. There were just a few momentum shifts. We couldn’t really get that much going.”
She said Brandi Trewin and Sonya Corliss are starting to block well in the middle, as is Devyn Makin on the right side.
“We’re putting up a really good block to match up with their outside hitters,” she said of Sisters. “Our blocking has improved a lot from the beginning of the year. They have really good hitters, though. They tried to put them where we weren’t.”
Seaside Tournament
The Huskies breezed through their pool Saturday morning, sweeping Seaside, Warrenton and Estacada in two games each to place first in their pool.
Against La Salle, Sweet Home won the first game and started strong in the second, scoring the first five points, then fell apart.
“We kind of got down a little bit,” Meier said. “We couldn’t come back. That seems to be our struggle. We get down a little bit and we can’t battle back. We’re playing a little bit scared when we shouldn’t be. More experienced teams like Sisters get down and they just play harder. My girls start chipping it and hitting into blocks.
“It’s just a hurdle we need to get over. We need to learn that the game isn’t over until somebody has 25 points. We have all the components to make a great team. But if we’re not emotionally strong, it doesn’t matter. They’re fully capable of doing it. When they’re all playing together it’s unbelievable.”
The Huskies, now 3-3 in league, are tied with Cottage Grove for third place. They face Junction City on the road Tuesday this week, then will host a surging Cottage Grove, which had won three straight matches going into this week, on Tuesday, Oct. 18, and Elmira on Oct. 20.
Meier said fans are encouraged to wear pink for the Cottage Grove match in recognition of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.