They didn’t do it the easy way but the Sweet Home volleyball players clinched a berth in the round of 16 in the state 4A playoffs with a victory at Cascade in the first round Saturday.
The Huskies, 13-5 overall, will find out who they play Nov. 3, when the brackets are released, in a game likely to take place Saturday on the road.
Sweet Home would have likely been the host for the first round, but the Huskies let Elmira upset them on Wednesday, at home, and had to travel to Cascade to stay alive.
Still, Coach Alicia Meier said she likes where her team is now.
“It’s nerve-wracking to have to wait, but I think we’ll be kind of right in middle of 16 teams,” Meier said Monday.
“We’ll likely be playing someone pretty equal to us, with a pretty similar record.”
She said the stumbles last week were “a great learning experience.”
“I think it’s just that confidence, they believe in themselves,” Meier said. “They have to realize they can play with these top teams and they just can’t have lapses, which is a lack of experience.”
Elmira 3, Sweet Home 2
Lapses were the name of the game, unfortunately, as the Huskies lost to Elmira, which had just beat Junction City in the three-four game in the play-in round, at home Wednesday, to drop from second to third seed out of the Sky-Em League.
The Huskies won first two games 25-19, 25-13, then lost 25-19, 25-21 and then lost fifth game 16-14.
“It was one of those close games,” Meier said. “It could have gone either way. We came out strong, then they changed things up. They had nothing to lose, so they came out hard.”
Conversely, she said, the relatively inexperienced Huskies played too tentatively in the last three games and let the Falcons back into the match.
“The lesson learned here is you can’t play two good games and expect to win the match,” Meier said. “I think we came out of it learning that you can’t overlook anybody.
I told the girls they worked hard for second place. It’s a legitimate title. Unfortunately, that can change. We have to come out strong and respect everyone.”
Sweet Home 3, Cascade 2
At Cascade, the Huskies looked frighteningly familiar as they came out strong against the Cougars, winning the first two games 25-20 and 25-17, before letting the hosts back into the match, 12-25 and 11-25.
“The same thing happened against Cascade,” Meier said. “We came out strong, then let them back in.”
In the fifth game, the Huskies took charge, led by Brandi Trewin, who “really stepped up” and, with Tiffany Miller, “started running some good plays,” leading Sweet Home to a 15-9 win.
“Cascade is a team exactly like us – shorter and really scrappy,” Meier said. “It was fun playing against them. It was a good defensive game.”
Trewin finished with 15 kills, while Annie Whitfield contributed 14.
Trewin also had five blocks and she and Whitfield both had 12 digs, while Miller added 24 assists.
Meier said the Huskies know they can play with “just about anyone if each one steps up.
“At this point we don’t have anything to lose,” she said. “We just have to play our hardest.”