Sweet Home’s volleyball team enters the league season this week with a nearly unblemished record.
The Huskies are 3-0 in regular best-of-five matches, and won five of eight games at the Cascade Tournament.
“It was a really good week,” Coach Mary Hutchins said.
Coming off a season-opening sweep of Douglas on Aug. 30, Sweet Home beat Stayton and Newport on the road last week.
Against Stayton on Sept. 5, the Huskies had to adjust to the Eagles’ style of play before prevailing, 25-23, 25-13, 25-21.
“They try to take you out of your system,” Hutchins said of Stayton. “They have a little different style that we haven’t seen yet. They go for the corners, different things like that. I thought we did a good job.”
Seniors Ally Tow and Kayley Lopez both finished with 11 kills, with freshmen Bailee Hartsook adding seven and Shelbey Nichol five.
At Newport, Sweet Home got down to business early, winning 25-11, 25-11, 25-12.
“We played really well,” Hutchins said. “They’re learning.”
Tow led the team with 18 kills, and Lopez added 10, plus five blocks.
At the Cascade Tournament Saturday, the Huskies were missing veteran setter Sunhee Bitter, who was at a softball tournament, but they beat North Marion 2-0, Pheonix 2-0 and split 1-1 with Tillamook to make the finals bracket, the top eight out of 22 teams.
There they were paired with No. 1-ranked Sisters, and “we came out really flat,” Hutchins said, losing 25-9 in the first game and, after a lineup switch, 25-17 in the second.
“I felt, overall, it was a good learning experience for us,” Hutchins said. “We saw some different teams. Tillamook was strong and we did well.”
She said the team is playing together well, serving well and “doing a good job.”
“I’d like to see us improve on defense and serve-receive,” she said. “They’re working hard in practice and they are very supportive of each other. I really like the vibes in the gym. We have big goals and we have a lot of work to do to accomplish them.”
The Huskies open league play at home at 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 14, against Elmira, which will come in 0-3, including a 3-1 loss to Douglas.
“We should do well against them,” Hutchins said. “We need to come out and be ready to play and play well. I definitely feel we are one of the stronger teams in 4A, but we need to play like that.”