With a line-up void of senior starters, Sweet Home’s volleyball team was able to tough it out in a 3-0 win over Newport at home Thursday, Sept. 23.
“Our volleyball team has been dealing with a lot of adversity,” said Coach Mary Hutchins of her team, 4-1 in Oregon West Conference play and 5-3 overall. “We have had personnel missing at several games and have kids to be flexible and play sometimes on a different team or play a position they are not the most comfortable with.”
Sweet Home stepped it up against the Cubs with a line-up entirely comprised of juniors and younger players.
Scores were 25-21, 28-26 and 25-18 for the Huskies, who got their normal vociferous support from the student cheering section.
“Due to unforeseen circumstances,” which she declined to go into, “we had to play with a completely new rotation against Newport on Thursday,” Hutchins said. “I was very proud of the kids. They were able to overcome and prevail for a three-set win.
“We had never practiced that lineup or rotation so, even though there were moments of confusion and not the cleanest play, I was very proud of them for stepping up and being brave.”
Sweet Home was set to host Cascade Tuesday evening, Sept. 28, and then play on the road at Woodburn (0-5, 1-7) on Thursday, before traveling to No. 10-ranked Philomath Oct. 5 and hosting Sisters Oct. 7.
Going into the matchup with Cougars Tuesday, the Huskies, ranked 11th in the OSAA, based on quality of opponents played and scores, were tied with No. 1-ranked Sisters and the Cascade, ranked No. 2, at 4-1 in league. Both Sisters and Cascade had 10-2 overall records on Monday.