Volleyball continues to sweep opponents

The Lady Outlaws swept both their matches this past week with wins over Elmira and Junction City, and have pushed their league sweep-streak to 4-0.

Sisters started their week with a road win at Elmira. The Lady Outlaws clipped the Falcons in three quick sets with scores of 25-8, 25-15, and 25-6. The team showed they are getting better at playing their own game, rather than stooping to the level of their competition, when, at times, they beat themselves.

The Outlaws did get into a serving slump in the second set, which made it a bit of a closer contest. Coach Jason Myhre told The Nugget that the Outlaws need to get better at playing in a consistent manner in order for them to have a complete match playing at their tempo and ability.

Hawley Harrer led the team with nine kills, and Allie Spear followed with eight. Peytan Zanck added five kills. Alex Hartford recorded 14 assists, and libero Jessie Brigham logged seven aces in the match, and tallied eight digs. Harrer, Zanck, and Ashlynn Cantwell each contributed four digs.

"It's hard to spend hours traveling on the bus, and then expect to jump in and play strong," said Myhre. "I think they are doing a great job at it, but just need a bit more. The good thing is that the team wasn't satisfied with their level of play, and are driven to keep getting better and better.

"The saving grace is that they are a team, that when put in a corner, step up and fight. They show grit when they need to. We all want to have that grit throughout the whole match."

Two days later, the Outlaws defeated Junction City at home in three sets. Sisters was short some players, and didn't have a very deep bench, but still managed to record the sweep with scores of 25-11, 25-23, and 25-8.

Sisters came out strong in the first set, but let errors get the better of them in the second. The Tigers scored all 23 of their points off Outlaws' errors. The Outlaws re-focused, found their rhythm, and played their game for an easy third-set win.

Harrer had a good all-around performance with 12 kills, 10 assists, and was 8/10 from the service line with one ace.

Harrer has been one of the Outlaws' big kill leaders, and shared with The Nugget how she's able to keep putting the ball down for points.

"Alex is able to deliver me great sets from all over the court, and I always have my team behind my back," said Harrer.

Spear finished with nine kills, nine digs, and was 12/15 from the line with one ace. Ashlynn Cantwell was perfect from the line, going 14/14 with five aces. Hartford dished out 18 assists, and was 8/10 from the line with two aces.

Jessie Brigham led the defense with 19 digs, and went a perfect eight-for-eight from the line with one ace. Peytan Zanck had four kills, and was 11/12 from the line with three aces.

Harrer hopes she and her teammates keep improving as the season progresses.

Harrer said, "I think we played good tonight. We are starting to work together as a team, especially since the Summit game. We do need to improve on staying at a high level the whole match, as we sometimes struggle with the second game. Our goal is to keep improving every match."

Myhre commented, "The girls are connecting well, and playing tough. They don't get down when momentum isn't in their favor, and they stay strong no matter how close the score is. They just don't seem to get rattled, and just work through their errors enough to pull a game back."

Myhre stated that assistant coaches Brad Bulloch and Cris Converse have been a tremendous support for the team.

"As we get close to the halfway point in our league, their presence on the team is very apparent," said Myhre. "Serve-calling and bench support have really given us the ability to fight through low spots in the game. Coach Cris wasn't at the match today, and her presence on the bench was missed. If she were to have been there, it may have helped in preventing the string of errors in the second set."

The Outlaws were to play at Cottage Grove on Tuesday, September 29. Thursday's match, two days later, will be at home against Sutherlin.