Sweet Home’s volleyball team came away with a blow-out sweep at Junction City last week, then an oh-so-close 3-2 loss to Sisters, also on the road.
The Huskies also swept then-No. 6 Cascade in the quarterfinals of the Sisters Tournament Saturday before losing to No. 2 Valley Catholic.
“We had a good week,” Coach Mary Hutchins said of her team, which was 6-3, 2-1 and ranked eighth in the state this week as they prepared to host Sutherlin Tuesday, Sept. 26, and travel to Cottage Grove Thursday, Sept. 28.
Sweet Home 3, Junction City 0
The Huskies beat the hosts 25-7, 25-14, 25-11, shocking their own coach as well as, apparently, the other team.
“I did not expect that,” Hutchins said. “We played really well. (Junction City) seemed really out of synch, with a lot of unforced errors.
“I expected more from them.”
Sisters 3, Sweet Home 2
After a loss to Sisters at the Cascade Tournament two weeks ago, the Huskies were motivated and had a game plan, Hutchins said. Even better, they executed it.
“We came out intense, believing in ourselves,” she said. “The girls were super excited.”
It worked, for two games. Sweet Home won the first two 25-18, 25-23 before the Outlaws recovered and began going to their ace, UCLA-bound Hawley Harrer, pulling away in Game 3 to win 25-22. Sisters then put the the Huskies away 25-16, 15-7 in the final two games.
“We fought tooth and nail to win that second game,” Hutchins said. “Sisters is a championship team for a reason. In the third game, we were right there. We just couldn’t get those last few points.”
The fact that they took the No. 1-ranked defending state champions to five games was not lost on her team, she said.
“Of course we would have liked to get those three points and the upset, but going five games with them has been a dream for us. I was really proud of the girls. It was definitely one of our biggest efforts.”
Sisters Tournament
“They had a great tournament,” Hutchins said.
Sweet Home beat Newport and South Umpqua in pool play, and lost to No. 2-ranked Valley Catholic, but made the eight-team Gold Bracket Saturday.
There they beat Cascade, which was undefeated in pool play, 25-11, 25-12.
“The girls really got out and jumped on top of them,” Hutchins said. “They played very convincingly. They didn’t give (Cascade) a lot of room to get into the game.
“That’s the mentality we’ve been talking about. They went in and took control right off the bat. We really dominated them. We blocked really well. We looked really good.”
That win put them up against Valley Catholic, which has a dominating outside hitter.
“It was great for us to see them, to play them,” Hutchins said. “We put up better numbers in the afternoon than we did in the morning.”
The Valiants prevailed 25-15, 25-16.
“We were right up there with them, but then our serve/receive got away from us. It was a good match-up. Playing these tougher teams only makes us better.”
Hutchins said she didn’t have statistics from the week’s matches, but said it was a team effort.
“The girls feel very confident,” she said. “They’ve played the No. 1 and No. 2 teams. We’ve seen a lot of teams and the girls feel like they can compete with those teams.”
Cottage Grove beat Sutherlin 3-2 last week and Hutchins said the first order of business is to get a win against the Bulldogs, whom Sweet Home has never beaten in the Sky-Em League.
The Huskies lost twice to Cottage Grove last year in league play, so they are looking to even that score as well, she said.