Sweet Home’s volleyball team finished the week with a split in Sky-Em League action and some good experience matches at the Santiam Christian Tournament Saturday.
Sweet Home 3, Junction City 1
The Huskies played with confidence against the Tigers, whom they had beaten once in the pre-season, and it showed as they won 25-14, 25-19, 19-25, 25-14 Tuesday, Sept. 25.
“They did a good job,” said Coach Alicia Meier, who sat out the road trip with her newborn son. She said she hopes to make road games after the trip to La Pine Oct. 4. Assistant Coach Mary Hutchins coached at Junction City.
“It was a good game,” Meier said. “The girls were playing aggressively and, although they let Junction City come back in the third game, they came back in the fourth.
Megan Graville led the team with 15 kills, and Alena Davis and Emily Marchbanks each scored four aces.
“It was nice to get a little confidence booster,” Meier said. “Our league is so tough, it’s sometimes hard to focus on not getting discouraged when we’re playing these tough teams.
“We just need to remember that we can’t control the opponent, but we can control what we do with the ball.”
Cottage Grove 3, Sweet Home 0
The seventh-ranked Lions at took charge at the opening whistle and dominated the Huskies in game one of a 25-10, 25-21, 25-20 win at Sweet Home Thursday, Sept. 27.
“They were controlling everything – we were just scrambling to get it over,” Meier said.
After the Huskies talked about it between the first and second games, they came out more composed and kept things closer.
Graville led the team with seven kills.
Meier said that the team just needs to believe in themselves.
“I think we had the same strategy but they executed it,” she said. “We are talking about taking games off this team, getting them worried about us.
“We can play with teams (ranked) right around the 20 mark. It’s just our players believing in themselves.”
Santiam Christians tournament
Against some of the top 10 3A schools in the state Saturday, the Huskies won a game against Burns before Marchbanks and Graville collided, sending them both to the bench.
Meier said the Huskies could have beaten a couple of the teams they played if they’d been a full strength and confidence.
Against Central in the medal round, Sweet Home took the first game 25-18, lost by a close 28-26 score in the second and then fell 15-8 in the third.
“We just can’t make those little mistakes,” Meier said. “We just lose all this momentum, making all those little mental errors.”