The school of hard knocks for the Siuslaw volleyball team hits a new level Saturday when the Vikings play in the 12-school Canby Varsity Tournament.

"We'll be the smallest school there," Siuslaw coach Jon Hornung said. "It will be a wakeup call to these kids."

Siuslaw was a late addition to the field, to make it an even dozen. The other 11 are all bigger.

The tournament features five 6A schools — host Canby, Forest Grove, Grant, Jefferson and Wilson, and six 5A schools — Dallas, Hermiston, Mountain View, Rex Putnam, South Albany and Thurston.

And one 4A school — Siuslaw.

"It will be a learning experience," Hornung said. "It will be fun, and the girls are excited."

Siuslaw is now 2-2 following a 3-1 home loss to Pleasant Hill on Thursday night. The Canby tournament will be the team's last chance to test themselves before Far West League play opens Tuesday with a home match against South Umpqua (1-3).

"Hopefully Saturday, if there are any last things to figure out, we'll figure it out then," Hornung said.

The talent on the Vikings bench runs 12 deep, both blessing and curse for their first-year coach.

"It's nice to have options," Hornung said. "We have the spoils of riches. We can change players interchangeably and it works out. It also can be frustrating because they're not super gelled together."

Lineups have been mixed and matched and stirred and shuffled. Thursday's starters included Brittany Long, Abby Watkins, Emma Collins, Jordan Long, Elyssa Rose and libero Maci Wells, rotating in for Mackenzie York.

"Jordan Long played awesome in practice the last couple of days," Hornung said. "So I threw her in, and she did well."

He went early and often to his deep bench.

"A lot of times we're changing lineups just to give the other team a different look," Hornung said.

It presented some hiccups, as players interacted with a revolving set of teammates. Little things made a big difference in a match won by the Billies 24-26, 25-22, 25-23, 28-26.

"Sometimes I feel like the communication aspect isn't there," Hornung said. "You think someone's going to get (the ball), and then no one gets it.

"There were plays where a couple of (our) defenders opened up to the ball, as if they were going to pass it, but they both opened up and it fell between them."

The Vikings' passing game was at times especially problematic.

"Our free-ball passing could have been better," Hornung said. "There were times when we could have run plays and got kills but we just didn't pass well."

It made a difference against the Pleasant Hill Billies, who only have seven varsity players — six well-positioned starters and a reserve back-row setter.

"There were a couple of times, late in the fourth set, when deep passes went over the net rather than getting to our setters," Hornung said. "The setters weren't able to set up our hitters. That was frustrating because those are points we should win.

"Those points would have changed the whole match. We just didn't capitalize."

Saturday is a new day, and he expects better play, as well as tougher competition.

"Even if we don't win the tournament, or win a lot of matches, it will be fun to at least get out there and play," Hornung said. "It's fun to mix it up rather than see the same teams we see all the time.

"We'll have plenty of time to change things around, and see what works."

NOTES

Sophomore middle blocker Makenzie York had a team-high 8 kills and senior middle blocker Elyssa Rose 5 kills for the Vikings against Pleasant Hill. York also was credited with the team's lone ace. ...

Siuslaw is No. 26 in the most-recent Oregon School Activities Association Class 4A rankings ... South Umpqua is No. 27, the Far West League's lowest-ranked team ... North Bend (4-1) is No. 17, Douglas (1-2) No. 21, Brookings-Harbor (2-1) No. 23 and Marshfield (3-3) No. 24. ...

Only three of the 12 Canby tournament teams enter with winning records. Wilson is 4-0 and ranked No. 5 among 6A schools. Among the 5A schools, Mountain View is 3-1 and ranked No. 9 and Hermiston 2-1 and ranked No. 14. ...

Down 23-18 in the fourth set, the Vikings rallied for six points in a row behind the serving of Makenzie York to go ahead 24-23. It appeared it would be seven in a row, but a desperate return by the Billies found an open spot on the Siuslaw side for a 24-all tie. The Vikings led 25-24 and 26-25 before the Billies rattled off the final three points of the night. ...