The Siuslaw Vikings volleyball team was hitting on all cylinders Thursday, sweeping past Marist Catholic 3-0 in Sky-Em League play in Eugene.

The win puts the Lady Vikings in the driver's seat for a state play-in game later this month.

Siuslaw won by scores of 25-18, 25-23, 25-14.

The Lady Vikings have now gone from one must-win to another.

Tuesday, Siuslaw (9-8 overall, 3-4 in league) hosts Marshfield (10-8, 3-4). First serve is 6:30 p.m.

Three league matches remain on the Lady Vikings' schedule — Marshfield, at Elmira this coming Thursday and a home match Oct. 22 against first-place Junction City.

Elmira is a likely win. Junction City is a likely loss. Marshfield is a toss up, and may be the key to a play-in bid for both the Lady Vikings and the Lady Pirates.

COACH JONATHAN HORNUNG'S MATCH RECAP

We played Marist (Thursday) night and beat them in three sets. The first set was touch and go at first, but about half way through we flipped a switch and went on a big run to put them away. They served really tough from the outset and we had a little trouble adjusting to playing in their gym. It seemed like we were a step late on a lot of plays early in the match, which may have been due to the fact that their gym floors are always incredibly dusty and slippery.

From playing them the first time, we knew that they had one big hitter and we really focused on putting at least two blockers on her every time she got set. She had a couple of big kills early in the match, but those slowly were replaced by chips and hitting errors as the match progressed. They also remembered the last time we played because they tried triple blocking our middle hitters every time they got set. I wasn't super surprised by this because Desi and Eli had 12 and 11 kills respectively the first time we played. I was a little surprised that they didn't adjust out of it as the match went on because by triple blocking the middle they were letting Mia hit against a single block all match, and she finished with 15 kills. The second set was tight, but we were able to scrap out a win at the end. We continued that into the 3rd set where she started strong and put them away early.

Hayden, Mia and Lindsey played great defense which kept us in a lot of points and really frustrated their hitters. They combined for 45 digs on the match. And our blocking at the net was much improved over previous matches. Elissa Hurley and Desi set great outside blocks and Zoe and Hailee Outlaw did a great job of positioning the blocks on outside hits.

Overall it was a good match, and it was a good warm-up for Marshfield on Tuesday. We're hoping that the rest from the weekend and the excitement of being at home can really help us push on Tuesday. We seem to be finally starting to dial in our rotation and we're definitely playing our best volleyball of the season right now.

Siuslaw statistics vs. Marist:
KILLS (38) — Mia Collins 15, Elissa Hurley 7, Kya Blake 6, Desi Tupua 4, Zoe Alberty 3, Lindsey Long 1, Hayden Muller 1, Hailee Outlaw 1.
ACES (8) — Hayden Muller 2, Hailee Outlaw 2, Desi Tupua 2, Lindsey Long 1, Mia Collins 1.
DIGS (55) — Lindsey Long 19, Hayden Muller 14, Mia Collins 12, Zoe Alberty 4, Hailee Outlaw 2, Desi Tupua 2, Elissa Hurley 1, Kya Blake 1.
BLOCKS (4) — Desi Tupua 2, Zoe Alberty 1, Elissa Hurley 1.

Siuslaw statistics vs. Cottage Grove:
KILLS (43) — Mia Collins 15, Desi Tupua 9, Kya Blake 7, Elissa Hurley 6, Zoe Alberty 4, Hayden Muller 2.
ACES (11) — Desi Tupua 4, Hailee Outlaw 3, Zoe Alberty 2, Lindsey Long 1, Hayden Muller 1.
DIGS (59) — Lindsey Long 27, Hayden Muller 13, Mia Collins 8, Zoe Alberty 5, Hailee Outlaw 4, Desi Tupua 2.
BLOCKS (5) — Mia Collins 3, Elissa Hurley 2.

OSAA PLAYOFF PICTURE
As of 7 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 12
Current automatic seeds (top 2 from each league)
SKY-EM — No. 5 Junction City, No. 11 Cottage Grove
COWAPA — No. 1 Valley Catholic, No. 6 Banks
TRI-VALLEY – No. 12 Corbett, No. 10 North Marion
OREGON WEST — No. 2 Sweet Home, No. 4 Sisters
SKYLINE —No. 3 Hidden Valley, No. 21 North Valley
GREATER OREGON — No. 8 La Grande, No. 16 Baker
Current next eight qualifiers
No. 7 Astoria, Cowapa
No. 9, Philomath, Oregon West
No. 13 Tillamook, Cowapa
No. 14 Stayton, Oregon West
No. 15 Marshfield, Sky-Em
No. 17 Molalla, Tri-Valley
No. 18 Siuslaw, Sky-Em
No. 19 Klamath Union, Skyline
Outside looking in
No. 20 Seaside, Cowapa
No. 22 Henley, Skyline
No. 23 Marist Catholic, Sky-Em

2019 SIUSLAW SCHEDULE
Record: 9-8 overall, 3-4 Sky-Em League, 6-4 nonleague
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 — at Siuslaw 3, Marist Catholic 1 (25-16, 29-27, 23-25, 25-18)
Thursday, Sept. 26 — at Marshfield 3, Siuslaw 0 (25-20, 25-21, 25-13)
Tuesday, Oct. 1 — at Siuslaw 3, Elmira 0 (25-12, 25-19, 25-11)
Thursday, Oct. 3 — at Junction City 3, Siuslaw 0 (25-19, 25-12, 25-13)
Tuesday, Oct. 8 — Cottage Grove 3, at Siuslaw 1 (25-23, 25-16, 18-25, 25-20)
Thursday, Oct. 10 — Siuslaw 3, at Marist Catholic 0 (25-18, 25-23, 25-14)
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.
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 (16-25, 25-15, 15-10), at Sisters Tournament
Saturday, Sept. 21 — Siuslaw 2, Estacada 1 (15-25, 25-22, 15-13), at Sisters Tournament
Saturday, Sept. 21 — La Grande 2, Siuslaw 0 (25-15, 25-15), at Sisters Tournament
Saturday, Oct. 5 — Siuslaw 2, Madras 0 (25-12, 25-8), at Junction City Tournament
Saturday, Oct. 5 — Junction City 2, Siuslaw 0 (25-23, 25-16), at Junction City Tournament
Saturday, Oct. 19 — at Marshfield Tournament

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