After a surprising loss to Elmira, the Sweet Home volleyball team rebounded over the weekend, beating Sisters in what could be a tune-up for their league match-up on Thursday, and playing to a close loss to Valley Catholic, one of the best 3A teams in the state.
Santiam Christian Tournament
The Huskies, who have not been good early-morning performers, got it together early, beating Blanchett 27-25, 25-21, and Gervais 25-20, 25-16 before losing to Burns, the champion of the Sisters Tournament, 12-25, 22-25.
“We played horrible in that first game – passing errors and we lost some long rallies,” Coach Alicia Meier said. “We played much better in the second game. We were taking them out of their game. IT was a really exciting match.”
Moving into the winners bracket, the Huskies downed Sisters 27-25, 20-25, 15-8 in what they hope will be a tune-up for the teams’ meeting this Thursday in Husky Gym.
They then lost to Valley Catholic, which went on to defeat Burns for the tournament title, 22-25, 23-25.
“We were so close,” Meier said of the Valley Catholic match. “We just had a few moments where we let down and had some passing and blocking errors and lost momentum. We could have won either game. That’s what our fault is.
“It was, all in all, a really good tournament. It kind of got us refocused.”
Elmira 3, Sweet Home 2
Focus – or a lack thereof – played a big part in a disappointing loss to the Falcons,” Meier said.
“That was a wake-up call for them,” she said of her team, which was 10-7 overall, counting tournaments, and 2-2 in league going into this week’s games with LaPine on Tuesday and Sisters on Thursday.
“They played good, we played bad. That’s what happened.”
The Huskies lost the first game 21-25, then won the second and third, 25-20 each, then lost the fourth and fifth, 23-25 and 11-15.
“We had a lot of serving errors at crucial points – right when we got the momentum going,” Meier said. “We had 11 missed serves. That’s pretty bad for us. Then we started playing tentative, hitting it into the net or hitting it out.”
Brandy Trewin had a good match, finishing with 11 kills, five blocks and nine digs. Annie Whitfield also had 11 kills.
“Three-quarters of the team were sick but that isn’t an excuse,” Meier said. “If you’re on the court, you need to play 100 percent.”
Sweet Home 3, Cottage Grove 2
Against the scrappy Lions, the Huskies started strong, winning 25-5 as Tiffany Miller served them to an 18-0 lead, including four aces.
“Everybody was doing good,” Meier said. “We were making perfect passes. It was phenomenal to watch.”
Then the teams switched sides and the Huskies began to struggle as Cottage Grove roared back to win 18-25.
It became a see-saw battle as Sweet Home won the third game 26-24, then lost the fourth 25-23 before putting the hosts down 15-9 in the deciding game.
Meier said she thought the Cottage Grove coach was experimenting with her line-up in the first game.
“We thought it was going to be a cakewalk and it wasn’t,” she said.
Whitfield led the team with 14 kills, with Devyn Makin adding 10 and Megan Graville seven.
Meier said this week will be a “good test” for her team.
“It’s always good to test your mental game playing LaPine,” she said. “We’re looking forward to playing Sisters again. We’ll see how focused our girls are. Sisters always brings their best game.
“Elmira was kind of wakeup call; either you have the guts to go in and want to win or not.
“I think, after the Elmira game, it was just ‘what do we want and how hard do we want to push for it?’
Other teams that make it to state want it just as bad. How hard to they want to push for it?”