By Keeghan Gittins
For The New Era
The Sweet Home volleyball team faced a challenging stretch last week, taking on top-ranked opponents in No. 4 Estacada and No. 2 Cottage Grove, and losing both matches 3-0.
Saturday, the Huskies traveled to the Marist Invitational, where they lost a match to the No. 1 Spartans and suffered a narrow 2-1 loss to 3A No. 11 Pleasant Hill.
Sweet Home’s two wins in the tournament came over Klamath Union and Springfield.
Despite suffering some tough losses, to even tougher competition, all on the road, the Huskies headed into league play this week with a 7-5 overall record and the No. 11 ranking in 4A.
Estacada 3, Sweet Home 0
On Sept. 16, the Huskies traveled to Estacada, ranked fourth in the 4A polls. Sweet Home started the night slowly, dropping the first set 25-13. However, they came to life in the next two sets, narrowly falling 27-25 and 25-23.
“Defensively, we struggled in a few areas – serve receive, tip coverage, and hit coverage all broke down at times,” Dargis explained. “We let too many balls drop and weren’t always ready for their setter dumping the ball, which put us out of position.”
Offensively, Sweet Home was aggressive, but good rotations from the Rangers made it difficult for the Huskies to score.
“We took a lot of swings on the night, but our attack didn’t have the impact we wanted in terms of putting the ball away, even though the ball was spread around well, we just didn’t get enough kills to do real damage to their defense.” Said Dargis.
Sweet Home has much improved from the service line since the beginning of the season.
“Serving was a huge positive, we only had five errors in three games,” said Dargis
Karissa “KJ” Jewell and Miley Smith were both perfect from the white line, Smith going 7/7 and Jewell finishing 17/17.
“That was great to see.” Said Dargis
Sweet Home’s trio of Aubrey Newberry, Keira Johnson, and Kaitlyn Kennedy all finished with six kills on the night.
Johnson led the Huskies with four blocks, while Trinity Victor led the team with 15 assists.
“Our setter did a good job spreading the ball around. “ Said Dargis
“Miley Smith was outstanding in serve receive, giving us a lot of perfect and good passes to the setter.”
Cottage Grove 3, Sweet Home 0
Just two days later, Sweet Home took on an even tougher opponent in No. 2 Cottage Grove on Sept. 18. The Lions, featuring three players standing 6 feet tall, posed a major matchup issue for the Huskies, whose tallest player stands around 5-8 – four other Cottage Grove players are that height.
Sweet Home struggled to get around the Lion’s blockers, but improved as the match progressed, eventually falling, 25-9, 25-14, and 25-16.
Marist Invitational
The Huskies were in Eugene Saturday to play in the Marist Invitational, splitting the weekend going 2-2.
Sweet Home opened strong, beating Klamath Union in two sets, 25-21 and 25-16. Their second match was a close loss to Pleasant Hill, 25-22 and 25-23.
Sweet Home then faced No. 1-ranked Marist. The Spartans, who also are tall – with eight players ranging from 5-8 to 6-1, made quick work of the Huskies, 25-16, and 25-9. However Sweet Home was able to leave the tournament with another win, beating Springfield. Scores for that final match were not available.
Looking forward, Sweet Home will face yet another tough road challenge against No. 3 Philomath, another team known for its height and athleticism. The Huskies will then finally return home on Thursday, Sept. 25, to take on No. 22 Newport at 6 p.m.
Dargis said her team is profiting from the challenging road schedule.
“We’ve had a tough schedule, and our girls are learning and improving each time out,” she said.
“These matches are making us better and preparing us for what’s ahead in league play.”