Sweet Home made short work of Seaside in their volleyball play-in game Saturday, sending the Seagulls home with a 25-17, 25-7, 25-21 win that puts the Huskies in the first round of the state playoff bracket.
Sweet Home will face Crook County Saturday at 6 p.m. in Prineville. The Cowboys are ranked 11th, after finishing the regular season with a 14-10 overall record, including 9-1 in the Tri-Valley Conference, which they won. Their loan league loss came at the hands of second-place Estacada, and the only other common foe with Sweet Home they’ve had was their season opener against Sisters, which they lost 25-11, 25-14, 24-26, 25-12.
Sweet Home has lost three times to the Outlaws this season, the last time in five games by two points. The winner of Saturday’s game will likely face Sisters early next week if the No. 1 Outlaws beat the 16th-seeded team they will host Saturday.
Sweet Home got off to a convincing start last Saturday, building a 15-8 lead before Seaside scored three straight points to get within four points, 15-11.
Ally Tow hit the Seagulls’ back right corner for a kill to increase the Huskies’ lead to 17-12 and Sweet Home began rebuilding its Huskies’ lead, stretching it lead to 20-12 before Seaside scored again. The Seagulls were able to get within five points, 21-16 before the Huskies closed the deal 25-17.
In Game 2, Huskies took over from the start to pull ahead 8-3. After a Seaside time out, the Huskies kept things rolling, leading 12-3 before Seaside could score again. Seaside kept the score within about eight or nine points, but the Huskies scored the last six or seven points to win the game.
The Seagulls put up a stiffer resistance in Game 3, tying the score at 2-2 and then again at 10-10 and 12-12, but Sweet Home managed to maintain a lead of several points for the remainder of the game and Tow connected with another kill to Seaside’s right rear corner to finish the match.
Coach Mary Hutchins said her players did their job and now they are gearing up for the Cowboys.
“They’re a tough team,” she said. “We have to go and play our best volleyball and put it all on the table.
“They’ve had a lot of experience at state,” she added, noting that Crook County won the 2012 state title. The Cowboys had a streak of championships that ran from 2006-12.
“We are going to play hard. We still have an end goal to make the final eight teams. We will put it out there and see where chips fall.”