The Huskies turned in two wins on the volleyball court last week, against Gervais in pool play at a tournament on Saturday and opening league play at home against Philomath on Sept. 29.
The Huskies were defeated in bracket play, 25-18 and 25-6, by Santiam Christian at a tournament hosted in Corvallis by Santiam Christian.
In the preceding pool play, Creswell defeated the Huskies 25-9 and 25-20.
“We started out very, very slowly in that game,” Coach Debbie Danielson said. Play improved in the next game when the Huskies defeated Gervais 25-24 and 25-13.
Then the Huskies lost 26-24 and 25-18 to Burns, which is a tough team, but still ended up second in their pool, Danielson said.
Thursday night, the Huskies played tight right at first against Newport, Danielson said, but hitting errors took their toll on the Huskies that night.
Newport defeated the Huskies 25-13 and 25-17 in the first two games. The Huskies battled back to win the third game 25-23. After a tense battle, Newport edged out the Huskies 26-24 in the fourth game to win the match.
If the Huskies had been able to win that fourth game, Danielson said, she thinks they would have won the fifth and taken the match instead. Each game they came out strong early, and the final game is only for 15 points.
Hitting usually isn’t a big problem for the Huskies, Danielson said. They generally struggle in other areas, but they performed well everywhere except hitting that night.
The Huskies served 97 percent, with six players serving 100 percent, including Tiffany Miller, Tana Tyler, Cassidy Sullivan, Megan Graville, Brandi Trewin and Alisha Huschka. They scored seven aces.
The Huskies had a serve receive rated above a two, which is their target on a scale of zero to three, Danielson said, and they even put some blocking together, with Trewin recording five blocks.
Hitting, the Huskies had more than 30 errors, she said. Hitting Sam Johnson led the Huskies with 12 kills. Emili Riggs had seven kills. Each had 11 errors.
“When we all come together, we should be pretty good,” Danielson said.
Newport was ranked number 10 in the state last week and is the frontrunner to finish league play at the top, she said. Central is looking like the number two team, but the Huskies have defeated Central in one game this season.
The Huskies will face an additional challenge competing to reach state. They defeated Philomath 25-15, 25-18 and 27-25, but the game was forfeited to Philomath after learning Friday that one player on track for graduation was not taking four classes, which is OSAA’s requirement for players. She was taking three. Even if the Huskies had managed to defeat Newport, that match would still have been forfeited to Newport.
The player now has the required number of classes and is eligible, Danielson said.
During the game, held at home on Sept. 30, the Huskies fell into an eight-point deficit, Danielson said, but they battled back and won the final game by two.
Johnson led the Huskies at the net with 16 kills.
The team served 92 percent, with Huschka serving 22-22 with three aces. Tyler served 13-13.
“We didn’t have as many errors,” Danielson said. “We kept the ball on the court.”
They pursued everything, she said. The Huskies were scrappy and played with heart.
“That night, they wanted it more than (the other team) did,” Danielson said, and that mental game makes a big difference for the Huskies this year.
As the Huskies move into the regular season, Danielson said, the Huskies will have to make fewer mistakes than they did against Newport.
They need to consistently perform well in every area every game, she said. “We’re working hard. They know what we need to do. It’s just getting it all together.”
The Huskies host Taft Thursday and travel to Seaside for a tournament over the weekend.
The junior varsity one team beat Newport 25-13 and 25-19 and Philomath 25-11 and 25-21.
The junior varsity two team beat Newport 25-18 and 25-21. It lost to Philomath 25-23, won 25-19 and lost 15-10.