Losing a scrap with the Stayton Eagles Monday night sealed a third-place league finish for the Husky volleyball team.
Stayton, undefeated in league, handed the Huskies their only loss, 15-10 and 15-12, in the second half of the season, ending hopes of finishing second.
Mahria Zook led things off with an ace. The scored back and forth to tie at 6-6, but Stayton ran up six points to lead 12-6. Trading points, Stayton crawled to a 13-7 lead. Stayton failed to return three serves from Amanda Burcham to let the Huskies get within three. Burcham served the ball out of bounds, and Stayton scored its next two serves to win the first game.
Stayton jumped to a 3-0 lead and scratched out another three to lead the Huskies 6-0 in the second game. Katie Ives tipped the ball over the net to get a sideout and spark a Husky run to tie at 6-6. The Eagles answered with a run to a 10-6 lead. On a series of hits from Mahria Zook and Stephanie Miller, the Huskies pulled within one. Stayton failed to return a serve from Zook, and the Huskies tied at 10-10.
The Eagles scored another three before an Ives hit scored. The Eagles led 14-11 when Stayton failed to return a serve from Teresa Lewis for the Huskies’ final point.
Lewis led the team serving 12-12 with four aces. Zook served 8-9 with two aces.
“Mahria really was the bright spot on the court tonight,” Coach Heide Nichol said. She hit consistently, 7-7 with two kills. She added three blocks.
Hitting, Kara Howell was 10-14. Katie Ives was 5-5. Miller was 10-18 with one kill and five blocks.
Amanda Burcham set 38-41 with four dumps.
“They’re a really strong hitting team,” Coach Nichol said. “Really, our main problem, our hitting wasn’t consistent. It wasn’t strong. I think could have played them a lot tougher, but we were missing some tough performances from some key hitters.
“I admire the fact that they never gave up. They continued to push for a runs, runs of excellence.”
Serving was strong, Coach Nichol said. The Huskies scored more points on serving than they have against other teams that aren’t as good as Stayton.
The Huskies move on to face the winner of a match between fifth-place Cascade and fourth-place Sisters at home Thursday night in league playoffs. If they win that, the Huskies move on to face The Dalles in the first round of state playoffs. If they win that game, they will move on to the state tournament at Lane Community College.