At first blush, you may take Kari Blake as a numbers person, being the business manager for the Siuslaw School District.

But she is a words person, too. And she uses a lot them in praise of Lady Vikings volleyball players.

"The girls just played so solid as a team tonight," the first-year coach Tuesday in the wake of a 25-11, 25-17, 25-15 sweep at Marist in their Sky-Em League opener.

"Every girl who touched the floor had a strong game, and overall it was just a great team effort.

"Everyone played their position well. It was nice to see things starting to fall into place and the team starting to gel, just in time for our league opener."

Siuslaw will play its first home match Thursday, taking a 4-3 record into a showdown with coast rival Marshfield (0-1, 3-3). The varsity match is scheduled for a a 6:45 p.m. start.

Blake is so flush with players that the game will be preceded with a pair of junior varsity games at 5 p.m.

"We have 27 girls in the program this year," she said. "So we were able for form two JV teams.

"And each of them won in three sets in a best-of-five match (with Marist). Every one of the girls got substantial play time and they all did really great.  

"They played well as a team and it's really fun to see them continue to grow and improve with each game."

The varsity girls were notably on their game.

"The girls had a goal to get ahead early and stay focused through the match and finish strong," Blake said, "They definitely wanted the win tonight."

The Spartans didn't simply yield the night.

"Overall, Marist definitely gave us a run for our money," Blake said. "Our hitters had a lot of good attempts that Marist returned, which had our back row hopping and our hitters working twice as hard to earn a point.  

"Our setters, Zoe Alberty and Brynlee Manues, did an amazing job at moving the ball around and getting really quality sets to our front row.

"Our back row was communicating well, hustling, and passing the ball really well tonight.  Libero Hayden Muller had 33 digs and 10 perfect passes on the night and proved to be a real leader on the court.  

"Also in the back row, Desi Tupua and Meika Shappell both read the court really well, had beautiful passes and saved a lot of balls from hitting the ground.  

"Desi Tupua played really smart in the front row and had a number of tips for points by finding the holes in Marist's defense. Desi was on fire at the net on defense and had seven blocks on the night."

There also were some good words for 6-foot freshmen Mylee Blake and Rhianna Lane.

"Mylee and Rhianna had particularly good nights, leading the team with eight kills each," Blake said. "Rhianna also had three blocks and nearly every ball she was set, she turned into a kill. 

"Mylee got a lot of great sets tonight and made good use of them adding four well-placed tips for points to her eight kills and only two hitting errors on the night. 

"It was really fun to see those two step up for their team tonight."

NOTES

Tickets for Thursday's match are available online at bit.ly/siuslawtickets … Fans should enter through the northwest front door … Masks are required …

Siuslaw is No. 11 in the latest OSAA 4A rankings … Sisters is No. 1, Junction City No. 6 and Cottage Grove No. 8 …

Elsewhere in the Sky-Em League on Tuesday, Cottage Grove beat Marshfield 3-0 (25-14, 25-12, 25-9) and Junction City beat Elmira 3-0 (25-11, 25-12, 25-20). …

SIUSLAW SCHEDULE
Record: 4-3 overall, 1-0 Sky-Em League
Tuesday, Aug. 31 — Siuslaw 3, Phoenix 0, at Sutherlin (25-18, 25-11, 25-16)
Tuesday, Aug. 31 — at Sutherlin 3, Siuslaw 2 (15-25, 14-25, 25-19, 25-11, 15-8)
Wednesday, Sept. 8 — at Pleasant Hill 3, Siuslaw 2 (23-25, 22-25, 25-17, 25-22, 16-14(
Saturday, Sept. 11 — at North Bend 3, Siuslaw 0 (25-16, 25-18, 25-22)
Saturday, Sept. 18 — Siuslaw 2, Marist 0 (25-23, 25-22), at Sisters Tournament
Saturday, Sept. 18 — Siuslaw 2, Vale 1 (25-16, 20-25, 15-9), at Sisters Tournament
Tuesday, Sept. 21 — Siuslaw 3, at Marist 0 (25-11, 25-17, 25-15)
Thursday, Sept. 23 — Marshfield, 6:45 p.m.
Tuesday, Sept. 28 — at Elmira, 6:45 p.m.
Thursday, Sept. 30 — Junction City, 6:45 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 2 — at Junction City tournament
Tuesday, Oct. 5 — Cottage Grove, 6:45 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 7 — Marist, 6:45 p.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 12 — at Marshfield, 6:45 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 14 — Elmira, 6:45 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 16 — at Marshfield Tournament
Tuesday, Oct. 19 — at Junction City, 6:45 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 21 — at Cottage Grove, 6:45 p.m.
Coach: Kari Blake
Assistants: Chariti Parker, Kya Blake
JV coach: Aylenne Vasquez

SIUSLAW VARSITY ROSTER
  1 Kristin Wall, setter, sophomore, 4-11
  2 Hayden Muller, libero, senior, 5-3, co-captain
  3 Rhianna Lane, middle blocker, freshman, 6-0
  4 Mylee Blake, outside hitter, freshman, 6-0
  5 Meika Shappell, defensive specialist, sophomore, 5-0
  6 Desiree Tupua, middle blocker, junior, 5-8
  7 Hailee Outlaw, outside hitter, junior, 5-8
  8 Ashley Hennessee, right side, sophomore, 5-7
  9 Brynlee Manues, setter, sophomore, 5-4
10 Zoe Alberty, setter, senior, 5-7, co-captain
11 Alizabeth Norton, middle blocker, senior, 5-9
12 Ava Center, opposite hitter, sophomore, 5-5
13 Cate Waggoner, defensive specialist, sophomore, 5-2
14 Bailey Myrick, right side, junior, 5-7

SIUSLAW JUNIOR VARSITY
  1 Macali Ladę, defensive specialist, freshman
  2 Abigail Riggs, outside hitter, freshman, 5-3
  3 Jolee Erickson, libero, freshman
  4 Sydney Barnett, middle blocker, sophomore
  5 Makayla Bender, defensive specialist, freshman, 5-4
  7 Mesa Earls, outside hitter, freshman, 5-5
  8 Kimberly Martinez-Munoz, outside hitter, freshman, 5-7
11 Megan Alberty, setter, freshman, 5-6
12 Bailey Myrick, middle blocker, junior, 5-7
14 Mya Smith, sophomore, 5-3
15 Malaia Snider, middle blocker, sophomore
16 Brianna Pavesich, middle blocker, sophomore, 5-10
17 Jordyn Breeden, defensive specialist, freshman