Siuslaw coach Jonathan Hornung has reason to be upbeat after his Lady Vikings took the Lady Lions to the limit in a Sky-Em League volleyball opener Thursday in Cottage Grove.

He also has reason to be a little down after coming up short for the third time in the three matches that have gone the distance this season.

"It stings to lose another five-set match," Hornung said, "but we all held our heads high, because we went out playing hard."

Cottage Grove (4-4 overall, 1-0 in league), defending league champion and state runner-up last year, rallied from a 2 sets to 1 deficit to win 21-25, 25-21, 19-25, 25-10, 15-10.

Siuslaw (3-3, 0-1) plays Saturday in the Sisters Tournament, then hosts Marist Catholic (1-5, 1-0) at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Glenn Butler Court.

Thursday, senior Mia Collins had 17 kills, 9 digs and 3 blocks to lead the Lady Vikings.

Freshman Desi Tupua had 8 aces and sophomore Hayden Muller 20 digs for team highs.

"Overall it was probably our most complete match," Hornung said of Thursday's outing "We're still growing as a team and it gave us a good indication of what we need to keep working on."

Siuslaw also may need a lesson in dealing with prosperity. In each of the three losses, the Lady Vikings took a 2-sets-to-1 lead into sets four and five.

Still, steady improvement was apparent against the much-taller Lady Lions, who are powered by junior co-captains Marry Ladd and Avery Hutchins, both 6-foot-1 middle blockers.

"Cottage Grove was by far the tallest team we have seen all year and we struggled to keep hits in play against their big blockers," Hornung said. "In contrast, we have a pretty small team, only registering 4 stuff blocks, so we rely heavily on our defenders to keep balls in play and we did a great job."

An upset was in reach for the Lady Vikings.

"The fifth set started out promising and we opened a 7-5 advantage," Hornung said. "But Cottage Grove had an amazing save and we weren't able to put the subsequent play away and that was spark enough to power them to a win."

Cottage Grove dominated the fourth set to push the match to the limit.

"We gave up a large run early in the set and couldn't climb out of it," Hornung said.

Collins had 7 of her team-high kills in the third set as the Lady Vikings took command of the set, 2-1.

"We came out firing," Hornung said. "Behind Mia we were able to cruise."

Cottage Grove had evened the match at 1-1 by winning a back-and-forth second set.

Freshman Desi Tapua, who had a team-high 8 aces in the match, went on a 10-point serving run as Siuslaw went from down 21-15 to a 25-21 first-set win.

The Lady Vikings hit only .103 as a team, recording 36 kills on 116 attempts with 24 errors. Collins hit .128, with 11 errors among her team-high 47 swings.

"They're a good team and we didn't roll over, we made them beat us," Hornung said. "Hopefully we can carry this over into the weekend, and get some wins in the Sisters Tournament."

SIUSLAW SUMMARY
KILLS (36) — Mia Collins 17, Kya Blake 5, Desi Tupua 4, Elissa Hurley 4, Zoe Alberty 3, Hailee Outlaw 2, Hayden Muller 1.
ACES (16) — Desi Tupua 8, Zoe Alberty 3, Kya Blake 3, Lindsey Long 2.
DIGS (56) — Hayden Muller 20, Mia Collins 9, Lindsey Long 8, Zoe Alberty 7, Kya Blake 6, Desi Tupua 3, Hailee Outlaw 2, Elissa Hurley 1.
BLOCKS (4) — Mia Collins 3, Elissa Hurley 1.

SKY-EM LEAGUE
Thursday's results
at Cottage Grove 3, Siuslaw 2 (21-25, 25-21, 19-25, 25-10, 15-10)
at Marist Catholic 3, Elmira 0 (25-10, 25-16, 25-14)
Marshfield at Junction City, late
Tuesday, Sept. 24
Marist Catholic at Siuslaw, 6:30 p.m.
Cottage Grove at Marshfield
Junction City at Elmira

2019 SIUSLAW SCHEDULE
Record: 3-3 overall, 0-1 Sky-Em League, 3-2 nonleague
Nonleague
Thursday, Aug. 29 — at North Bend 3, Siuslaw 2 (16-25, 25-18, 19-25, 25-19, 15-13)
Friday, Aug. 30 — Siuslaw 3, Bandon 0 (25-15, 25-12, 25-10)
Friday, Aug. 30 — Siuslaw 3, Douglas 0 (25-20, 25-14, 25-11)
Thursday, Sept. 5 — Siuslaw 3, at Pleasant Hill 0 (25-23, 25-21, 25-10)
Thursday, Sept. 12 — Sutherlin 3, at Siuslaw 2 (25-27, 25-21, 22-25, 25-22, 15-13)
Saturday, Sept. 21 — Siuslaw 2, Henley 1, at Sisters Tournament
Saturday, Sept. 21 — Siuslaw 2, Estacada 1, at Sisters Tournament
Saturday, Sept. 21 — La Grande 2, Siuslaw 0, at Sisters Tournament
Saturday, Oct. 5 — at Junction City Tournament
Saturday, Oct. 19 — at Marshfield Tournament
Sky-Em League
Thursday, Sept. 19 — at Cottage Grove 3, Siuslaw 2 (21-25, 25-21, 19-25, 25-10, 15-10)
Tuesday, Sept. 24 — Marist Catholic, 6:30 p.m.
Thursday, Sept. 26 — at Marshfield, 6:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 1 — Elmira, 6:30 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 3 — at Junction City, 6:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 8 — Cottage Grove, 6:30 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 10 — at Marist Catholic, 6:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 15 — Marshfield, 6:30 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 17 — at Elmira, 6:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 22 — Junction City, 6:30 p.m.

2019 SIUSLAW VARSITY ROSTER

  1 Lindsey Long, 5-2 junior, defensive specialist
  2 Hayden Muller, 5-2 sophomore, libero
  3 Hailee Outlaw, 5-8 freshman, setter
  5 Mia Collins, 6-0 senior, outside hitter
  6 Desi Tupua, 5-8 freshman, middle blocker
  7 Delaney Foglio, 5-8 junior, middle blocker
  9 Zoe Alberty, 5-7 sophomore, setter
10 Elissa Hurley, 5-8 senior, right side
11 Kya Blake, 5-9 junior, outside hitter