Scrapping for every single point along the way, the Huskies held off a massive effort by Cottage Grove Monday night at home and prevailed in a must-win match in three tight games to finish the regular season and clinch second seed in the Sky-Em League.
Battling back and forth with small runs in their first game, the two teams dueled for match point until the Huskies finally were able to get ahead 32-30 and win it.
Still fighting the whole way, the Huskies won the next two games 25-20 and 25-21 to win the match.
“If we had lost tonight, we would’ve been in a tiebreaker situation,” said Coach Mary Hutchins.
With the loss, Cottage Grove is in third place with four losses in league – only to sixth-ranked Sweet Home and top-ranked Sisters. Sweet Home is firmly in second place, with just two losses, both to Sisters.
A Cottage Grove victory would have given the Huskies and Cottage Grove three losses each for the season, and a Sweet Home victory was not a sure thing.
The 11th ranked Lions have made a habit of coming from behind to win in five, and they’ve done it while the team has dealt with injuries.
In one game, they were down two games and behind 24-20 in the third game only to come back and win in five, Hutchins said.
“We beat them in five at their place,” Hutchins said. “And it was tough. This team has won many games in five. We had to just keep trying to close the door.”
But the Huskies wanted to avoid a tiebreaker in hopes of winning a home court play-in game, she said. That along with the playoff schedule wouldn’t be decided until after Tuesday’s scheduled games.
“It was a really, really good game,” Hutchins said. Ally Tow led at the net with 16 kills. Bailee Hartsook and Kayley Lopez each had nine kills, and Shelby Nichol added another four, while Savannah Hutchins scored three aces.
“Something we did well tonight is we serve received well as a team,” Hutchins said. “I still feel like our team is a really good team.”
With different kids stepping up all over the team, “it was just a battle,” Hutchins said. “Nobody wanted to give in.”
“They’re tough,” Hutchins said. “Every point is a battle. You can never relax.”
The win was critical to the Huskies after missing a major upset over Sisters by just two points in five games at home on Tuesday, Oct. 10. It was a battle all the way as the teams engaged in extended rallies for nearly every point in a two-hour match.
The Huskies beat the Outlaws 25-20 to open the match, then followed up with a second win 25-19, but Sisters turned things around and won the third game 25-20 and the fourth 25-16 as Sweet Home appeared to tire.
Despite clutch plays by Tow in game five, Sisters won it 15-13 and slipped out with a two-point match.
“That team is a state championship team with a ton of senior leadership,” Hutchins said. “They know how to win games. They don’t get rattled. They always feel like they’re going to win.”
Only two 4A teams have managed to take any games from Sisters this season, Hutchins said. Sweet Home took four of them, while Crook County took one.
Hutchins said she’s happy the Outlaws consider Sweet Home a challenge, something they haven’t found very often this season, “but I feel like we can beat them. We were right there twice. We just have to seal the deal.”
The Huskies went on to beat Sutherlin in three games on the road, 25-16, 25-18 and 25-11, on Thursday.
“We took care of business at Sutherlin,” Hutchins said. “It was very positive, and everybody contributed. We showed up and did our job.”
Hutchins credits the team’s success last week to her players.
“They work well together,” she said insisting team be spelled in all capital letters to emphasize the strength of this team. “They come into practice with good attitudes. They do TEAM well. They support each other. They cheer each other on.”
With their second-place league finish, the sixth-ranked Huskies will host a play-in game late this week or early next week to qualify for the 16-team state championship tournament bracket.