Benny Westcott
Sweet Home volleyball had a split record last week, beating Newport (5-9) at home 25-21, 25-19, 25-12, but then losing at Philomath 25-21, 14-25, 25-22, 14-25, 15-17.
“Newport has a much stronger team this year than in the last two years,” Head Coach Mary Hutchins said. “They have been building in the offseason and have considerably more height. They also have a main player that was out most of last season with an injury that is back playing full time.
“I really liked the team’s focus and how we came out and executed our plan against them,” the coach continued. “They have a lefty outside and consistent setting and a middle that we knew about. We practiced defensively for the spots they like to hit and then we put up an effective block on both of their outsides. We were able to complete a three set home win and after several weeks of traveling it was nice to play at home.”
On the loss against the Warriors (7-6), Hutchins said “Philomath is second in our league and was ranked in the top 10 for 4A when we played them Thursday. We were able to have a pretty solid game plan from watching a lot of film and we worked really hard to move some things on defense to be prepared for where they like to attack.
“I can absolutely say this game was a heartbreaker,” the coach said. “We went five sets and we lost 15-17 in the fifth. We were down by four points late in the fifth set and the girls battled back and were able to tie it up at 14 all. Unfortunately we were not able to convert on the last crucial points to secure the upset.”
She said that “I wanted this one for the girls because there has been so much adversity this season with this team, and it has all been outside of volleyball. Things out of our control such as sickness, injury, and life circumstances have caused us to often use different lineups and have to be flexible with girls playing in different positions and being willing to do whatever they needed for the team.”
She noted that she “was proud of the tenacity the girls showed in this game and the effort to continue to keep battling. Philomath has the height advantage and our girls were not going to back down. It was a great game, and on the road. It was as close as you can get without coming away with a win.”
This week Sweet Home (6-9) hosts North Marion (0-9) at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 3 and Stayton (6-6) at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 5.