Sweet Home 25, 24, 25, 17, 15
Philomath 23, 26, 21, 25, 13
The Huskies won a five-game volleyball match at Philomath 25-23, 24-26, 25-21, 17-25 and 15-13 on Tuesday, Oct. 16.
“The girls fought hard through various factors outside of their control and finished strong,” Coach Debbie Danielson said. The Huskies’ motto has been “Start strong. Stay strong. Finish strong.”
This time, they did just that, Danielson said. The first two matches were both tightly fought battles, and the two teams split them. The teams split the third and fourth games, each dominating the games they won. The fifth game was tight again, and Sweet Home came out on top.
The Huskies played well, Danielson said. They served 89 percent, and their serve receive rating was a two on a scale of zero to three.
“We played much better, and we had some good attacks,” she said, with different players hitting.
Serving, Paige Niemi went 18-18. Sam Johnson was 31-33 with six aces. Alisha Huschka was 10-10 with one ace.
At the net, Johnson and Jess Seiber had eight kills each, and Hillary McCartin had seven.
Taft defeated the Huskies 25-15, 25-23 and 25-12 on Thursday at home.
Taft played well, Danielson said. The Tigers didn’t miss a single serve all night.
“We didn’t step up and match them,” she said.
Johnson led serving at 18-18 with four aces. Huschka was 7-7, and Sarah Rosa was 4-4.
Johnson and Seiber each had nine kills. McCartin had four. McCartin also notched three blocks, and Seiber had two.
Seiber and Alex Thompson earned a rating of two on the serve receive.
Taft’s win clinched them a third-place finish in league and a state playoff spot.
The Huskies enjoyed the volleyball match between the University of Oregon and Oregon State University on Friday, Danielson said.
They’ll play their final match of the year against Newport on Thursday at home, with all-league selections the following weekend. Their awards dessert will be held on Nov. 8.