Sweet Home continued its winning ways in conference play by defeating the two teams at the bottom of the league, North Marion and Molalla; but the momentum wasn?t enough to carry them past a tough Stayton attack.
The Huskies finished up the first half of league play with a home game against the undefeated Stayton Eagles, played on Monday, Oct. 10, losing in four games, 25-16, 23-25, 13-25 and 14-25.
Sweet Home 3, Molalla 1
Molalla, on Thursday, Oct. 6, proved to be tougher than its record would indicate. but not in the first game however.
Sweet Home jumped to a quick 15-5 lead with Molalla?s offense making many unforced errors, then hung on throughout the rest of the game to win 25-20.
In game two, it was more of the same, with neither team?s offense able to sustain a consistent attack. For the second time in two games, the Huskies faced a tough Indian server and had trouble getting the ball to the setter. It allowed Molalla to build a 12-8 lead.
?I wouldn?t say it was their servers,? said Michelle Cliver, who noted that the team deals with its own tough serves in practice all the time. ?Sometimes when one person shanks one, we get intimidated. Mostly though, it was just our own mental mistakes.?
From that point on, however, it was the Indians who imploded and made too many miscues to stay in the game. Brocard was able to serve out the final four points of the 25-19 game, the final point gained on a deep Breanne Messmer hit.
Molalla began to return everything in game three and then managed to win most of the long rallies. Both the Indians? serves and offense often found an empty middle of the Sweet Home defense. Molalla steadily pulled away to win 25-19.
Molalla presented some difficulties with their attack, according to Coach Debbie Danielson. Without great athletes, they often resorted to down-balling (hitting with their feet still on the ground), which made it more difficult to read whether the ball was going deep or just over the blocks.
The final game flip-flopped back and forth with the lead exchanged four times when each team put together service runs and took advantage of each other?s serve reception problems. Neither side had many points out of their offense. Only Ashlee Flanagan and Hannah Swanson managed to score points off hits or tough blocks until the final Sweet Home run for the match.
Down by one at 20-21, Chelsea Gagner served solidly and the offense took advantage to score the final five points. Cait Thireault made a smart tip kill to start the run and ended the game with a block.
Sweet Home 3, North Marion 0
It was a perfect trifecta Oct. 4 versus North Marion. Sweet Home won in identical game scores of 25-12 to shutout North.
North Marion simply didn?t have the attack to put pressure on the Huskies. Sweet Home, rather than drive the ball for kills, constantly caught North out of position and made tip after tip to the open floor. The first game was decided early during Sara Brocard?s service rotation as the Huskies rolled out early to a 13-5 lead and never looked back.
Everything North returned seemed to be directed toward middle hitter Cait Thireault, who demolished North with blocks on overpasses, thanks in part to the setter Julie Burcham?s skill in sending the ball to different hitters.
?Julie can set the ball everywhere, so everybody is prepared,? explained Thireault. ?The other teams don?t know what to expect. ?
The Huskies put game two out of reach early as they jumped to a 9-2 lead. Burcham went to Brocard as the hot hitter. Brocard pounded four kills and another two hits that were too tough to handle.
In the final game, with the offense primarily going through Cait Thireault and Brocard again, and some good play at the net by Burcham, Sweet Home handed the ball to Swanson with an 17-10 lead. Swanson nearly served out the match, producing two aces and two other hard serves that were mishandled, to get the Huskies to 24. A North netted serve ended the match.
The Huskies? service reception and passing was outstanding. Sweet Home?s serve receiving percentage was the highest for the year. Along with that, the Huskies had many strings of service points because of deep, hard, well-placed serves.
?North played up in their defense,? said Danielson of their opponent?s positioning on the serve. ?We were able to take advantage of that with our deep serves.?
Danielson said she was pleased with the Huskies ability to continue at a high level of play, even though they weren?t being challenged.
Thireault agreed.
?We still have some issues with that,? said Thireault. ?We wanted to go out and show that we were not going to slack off.?
Newport Tournament
The Huskies made their third trip to the coast on Saturday, Oct. 8, this time to play in a six-team tournament. Though they won their division in pool play, they lost in the final match to Siuslaw, 14-25, 16-25, to come home with the second-place trophy.
In pool play, Sweet Home defeated Taft 25-20, 25-17 and then split with Siuslaw, each team winning 25-21. Based on a point system, the Huskies edged Siuslaw and had the number one designation for the championship play.
That meant playing Taft again, whom they beat 25-17, 15-25, 15-13. That put them into the next game immediately, while their opponent, Siuslaw, benefited from a break.
In what Siuslaw fans claimed was their best match of the year, the taller Vikings had too much firepower and the Huskies didn?t have an answer.
Highlights for the Huskies included Ashlee Flanagan?s 16 blocks and Hannah Swanson?s 24 digs for the tournament. This effort was a direct effect of Friday?s practice on blocking and coverage surrounding the block, according to Danielson.
Looking Ahead
This week?s matches look to be the Huskies? toughest in conference action, as they have the least time to prepare in the shortened four-day school week. On Wednesday, Oct. 12, they stay at home to face Sisters, the second-place team.
With all these games being crucial to the league championship, Cliver is glad that they will have the home court advantage.
?Our crowd is a big difference,? said Cliver, who also thinks the team is confident and motivated to put up great efforts. ?We know that we are good enough to be league champs. We all want a patch on our letterman?s jacket for it.?
Standings
Through Oct. 8
Wins Losses
Stayton 4 0
Sisters 3 1
Sweet Home 3 1
Cascade 2 2
Molalla 0 4
No.Marion 0 4
Last Week?s Scores
Cascade 3, N.Marion(H) 2
Stayton 3, Cascade(H) 0
Stayton(H) 3, Sisters 0
Sisters(H) 3, Molalla 0