Oregon West volleyball showdown goes to Sweet Home

In a key early-season volleyball battle with impacts on the top third of the Oregon West Conference standings, Sweet Home overcame an early deficit to knock off Philomath in four sets on Thursday evening.

The Huskies got the win, 22-25, 25-18, 25-17 and 25-23.

“Played a very competitive match,” PHS coach Autumn Hilberg said. “The team hustled more than I’ve seen them all season. It was a fun game to coach.”

Hilberg said freshman Shaylee May was a standout on defense and also led the team in kills with 13. The team had struggles on the serve-receive part of its game but the coach was impressed with the overall effort.

“Our offense was the best we’ve seen all season,” she said. “If we can put good serve-receive with the same offense we had tonight, we will be hard to stop. I love watching the plays where we show flashes of brilliance. It reminds me that the team works hard in practice every day to succeed with the little things.”

Along with May’s 13 kills, other statistical team leaders were Abigail Brown’s four aces and five blocks, Kori Galvan’s 25 digs and Ashleigh Brown’s 33 assists.

Sweet Home improved to 3-1 in league play and trails Cascade by one game in the standings. The Cougars have beaten both Sweet Home and Philomath. The Warriors slipped to 2-2 in league play and are now tied for third with Stayton.

Philomath (8-2 overall) will play two home matches next week with Stayton visiting on Tuesday and Cascade coming on Thursday. Both of those matches show 6 p.m. starts.