Ken Roberts
For The New Era
After finishing 5-5 in conference play, good for a tie for third place, Sweet Home can extend its season into the state playoffs with a victory against Cascade this Thursday.
The Huskies defeated Molalla in four games at home, 22-25, 25-14, 25-18, and 25-13 on Tuesday, Oct. 25, but two days later fell to an undefeated Stayton club that dominated on their homecourt 25-17, 25-13, 25-19.
Sweet Home will return to Stayton, the neutral site chosen for the playoff matchup, to play Cascade, with whom the Huskies split matches in league play.
?Our goal was to make it to state,? said coach Debbie Danielson. ?We are almost there.?
Sweet Home 3, Molalla 1
Perhaps the emotion of the senior night pre-game ceremony affected the early play of the Huskies. In this must-win match, the Huskies had difficulty putting together any kind of defense or offense and let Molalla race to a big lead.
Down 16-24, the Huskies made one push to get back in the game. With Sara Brocard serving strong and Hannah Swanson delivering two kills, Sweet Home reeled off six straight points before a net serve ended their run.
However, the momentum carried over into game two and the rest of the match.
Tough serving kept the Indians off balance and they made numerous errors as the Huskies kept the offensive pressure on. In the third game, the Huskies began to control the net.
Not only did they block well, but Julie Burcham was able to feed Swanson, Cait Thireault and Ashlee Flanagan for a consistent attack.
The final game was a continuation of the mastery over the Indians. Dani Thireault and Sam Pierce both served through long rotations of seven points and six points respectively. Breanne Messmer?s back-row passing often set up Burcham?s sets to Jessalyn Seiber, who had five kills in the game.
Stayton 3, Sweet Home 0
Stayton was determined to finish the season undefeated in league play, and they used their superior height to put up a strong blocking wall and a strong offensive attack to do just that.
It wasn?t a matter of Sweet Home making errors. Stayton simply controlled the entire net. In the first game, they were able to block the Huskies seven times for points as well as delivering six kills and three tips or dumps.
In the second game, the Huskies made a few unforced errors, but the Eagles were still able to blitz Sweet Home with seven more kills and three more blocks for points.
All-league Eagle player Sam Yutzie also used a devastating drop serve to account for three points during a seven-point run.
Sweet Home had its best game in game three where they took the lead 7-3 following some tough serving by Swanson.
But Yutzie went back to work with her serve, nailing three aces, and the Eagles added in a couple of kills as they went on a seven-point splurge. Then the Eagles continued to produce offensively with 12 kills in the game and another couple of well-placed tips.
?Stayton never lightened up on us at all,? said Danielson. ?We had some strong rallies and we never gave up.?
Danielson thinks that effort will prepare them for Cascade.
?If you played as good as you possibly could, then that is a good way to go into the match for the state playoffs,? stated Danielson.
Game time Thursday is at 6:30 p.m. on the Stayton court.