Sweet Home’s volleyball team ran its league record to 3-1 and 7-2 overall with league wins over Cottage Grove and Junction City last week and then again on Monday night, with a defeat of Elmira.
Coach Alicia Meier said the five-game win over the Falcons was “heart attack city” as the visitors kept it close all night.
Sweet Home lost the first game 25-23, then came back for a 25-20 win in the second, but lost the third game 25-18 before closing the match out 25-22 and 15-13.
“We’re happy we won in five, but we should have played a lot better,” Meier said. “We were just on the defensive. We let them control the match and we couldn’t get anything going.”
She said the Falcons had “a really good outside hitter” who took advantage of poor blocking by the Huskies.
Sweet Home’s volleyball team won two league matches last week to raise its league record to 2-1 and overall to 6-2.
The Huskies defeated Junction City Tuesday, Sept. 28, in three games on the road, 25-14, 25-15 and 25-10.
“It was a good game, very consistent,” Meier said. “We were in control. It went really well with our serve-receive. We pretty much controlled the whole game and were able to run our plays.”
Megan Graville “had a really good game,” leading the Huskies with 11 kills, while Jamie Swanson and Brandi Trewin added five each. Swanson added six blocks, slowing down the Tigers’ offense and letting the Sweet Home defense pick up the ball.
Devyn Makin kept things rolling from the service line, serving 23 times.
“She had a good night,” Meier said.
Tiffany Miller kept things solid in the middle, “running a lot of plays” for Sweet Home.
Meier said the Huskies, coming off a loss to Burns at the Sisters Tournament the weekend before, played smarter defense after giving away too much to the other teams at the tournament.
“If you have a huge hole or don’t have your block up, it is almost impossible to save,” she said. “It was good to see them implement that.”
Against Cottage Grove at home on Thursday, Sweet Home did not control the match well but escaped with a three-set win, 25-20, 25-21 and 25-20.
“We were just letting them control the game,” Meier said. “Even though we won, they served really tough so our passing wasn’t as good as it could have been or has been. They kind of threw us off. We couldn’t run our plays. We weren’t making adjustments.”
Swanson had to sit out with an injury and Makin filled in in the middle for the Huskies, with Sonya Corliss stepping up from the JV to help out.
Graville once again was the leader on offense, registering nine kills “with real consistent play €“ minimal errors,” Meier said.
Brandi Trewin added four blocks.
The Huskies play at LaPine on Wednesday, Oct. 6.