Spikers show grit to beat Philomath

Ken Roberts

For The New Era

After losing big to the conference champion Central Panthers on Tuesday, Oct. 14, in straight sets, coach Debbie Danielson wasn’t sure what Sweet Home would have left for Philomath in their last home game on Thursday.

In their first meeting with the Warriors, the Huskies lost in four games.

“I knew Philomath was beatable,” said Danielson, “but I didn’t know what Husky team was going to show up.”

Prior to the game, lone senior Paige Niemi was recognized for her volleyball career, so that spent some emotion as well.

With all that in mind, Sweet Home rose up and dismissed the Warriors in three games in front of a packed gymnasium, 32-30, 25-16 and 25-19.

“It was nice to win, especially how we turned it around from the Central game,” said setter Alisha Huschka. “And it was nice to win for Paige.”

The first game turned into a marathon. The Huskies started out quickly, as Niemi passed three tough Warrior hits that turned into two kills each for Hillary McCartin and Sam Johnson. At one point, Emili Riggs served for five straight points to build up the early lead to 9-1.

Sweet Home maintained that lead on Philomath errors to 17-10 before they gradually let the Warriors back into the contest with errors of their own. At 19-19, Niemi had two consecutive kills, but Philomath kept pecking away until they had the first game point at 25-24. Emili Riggs had a kill to stop that first game point and the game teetered back and forth from there.

Four of the next five game points were in the Huskies’ favor, but Philomath’s tall middle blocker was able to nullify that pressure. A controversial referee’s call against Philomath for four hits resulted in the fifth game point and a final block by Riggs on an overset ball.

“Getting that one changed the momentum of the whole match,” stated Danielson.

“It made winning the next one easier.”

Danielson also thought the crowd played an important role.

“It was twice as large as normal,” said Danielson. “It helps you get through the close games.”

Defensive specialist Tana Tyler, who was among a group of Huskies who played superior defense, thought the Homecoming crowd was a decisive factor as well.

“We knew we could beat them,” said Tyler. “The large crowd kept us focused.”

Though the Huskies started out slowly in the second game, eventually their hard, deep serves put too much pressure on Philomath and kept the Warriors’ offense from running through their star hitter, Schaudt.

First, Alisha Huschka delivered a couple of aces in her 4 point run, which was followed by Johnson’s two aces during a six point run that put the Huskies up 14-6.

“We’ve practiced more on serving this year,” stated Huschka. “We’ve used different drills and practiced serving to different areas.”

But Sweet Home found a way to make it difficult, yielding nine straight points to the Warriors, mostly on Husky hits that went astray.

After Johnson produced a solid hit to stop the bleeding, Tiffany Miller became the next server of the moment, using the net cord for an ace and then driving five deep serves that Philomath couldn’t return to finish off the match.

In the final game, Miller had another six point service run that gave Sweet Home a 15-8 gap to work with. That was enough for the Huskies to hang on as Paige Niemi, who led the Huskies in kills, fittingly ended her last home match with the final kill.

“I wanted to go out and win big,” said Danielson, who stayed with the same lineup throughout the night to avoid a momentum change. “I’m always worried until the point is over. But the girls felt so good about themselves, especially winning in three games.”

The season ended for the Huskies on Tuesday, October 21st, in a road match at Taft.

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