Laker sophomore Shalene Christy spikes the ball against two College of the Redwood defenders, Codie Smith on the left and Cameil Hart on the right, during their match Tuesday night at Southwestern Oregon Community College. World Photo by Lou Sennick.

After Southwestern Oregon dropped two straight league games over the weekend, middle hitter Kasey Orr said her team needed Tuesday's nonleague game against College of the Redwoods to refocus. She and the Lakers did so in timely fashion, sweeping the visiting Corsairs 30-6, 30-15, 30-14.

Although the win did nothing for Southwestern's regional standings, it did wonders for the team's morale. The Lakers weren't shy to celebrate in front of their colorful home crowd at Prosper Hall after clinching the third set.

“We did really well tonight,” Orr said after the game. “Our last two games were really hard and really disappointing, so it's nice to have another win up there to get us ready to go for Saturday and Sunday.”

Like most of head coach John Speasl's starters, Orr saw limited action Tuesday, but she managed five kills. Two of those opened the first game, which the Lakers cruised through after jumping out to a 14-1 lead.

The freshman from Albany scored one of her two blocks in the second set, which played out much like the first. The Corsairs built a short-lived lead off of a hitting error by Southwestern and a kill by Cameil Hart, but the Lakers struck back. They crept ahead 4-3, were tied at 4-4, then pulled away for good.

“We were experimenting with a lot of stuff tonight, and the pressure was not on us at any point,” Speasl said. “We stayed focused and relaxed.”

Speasl emptied his bench for the third set, which saw Marshfield graduate Michelle Holcomb, who plays both setter and right-side hitter, rake in assists. She ended with 17 and added two kills. She also scored an ace in the third set.

Redwoods head coach Marla Gleave wasn't thrilled with the loss, but said her club fared well for a club lacking both veterans and its best hitter, Breah Smith.

“We only have freshmen on our team, so we're expecting to grow a lot in these first few games. And since we didn't have a program last year, most of these girls have had a year off,” she said before touching on Smith. “This is the fourth game we played without our best player, so we're still trying to fill a void.

Redwoods forfeited last season because of a low turnout.

Pam Deeter and Codie Smith led the Corsairs on offense with three kills apiece. Hart had the biggest night on defense, utilizing Gleave's new blocking scheme to notch three blocks.

“We implemented the new scheme this week and it worked fairly well for us,” Gleave said.

The win improved Southwestern to 9-6 this season with a 1-2 league mark. The Corsairs dropped to 2-10.

Speasl said the nonleague game was a nice break for his team. He was more than happy to see all of his players contribute toward the win.

“Tonight we wanted to get experience for our younger players,” Speasl said. “It's nice to do that before league. ... It's such a momentum game, and during league games, obviously, we don't want to lose momentum and make as many substitutions as we did. In this kind of deal, we lose a little momentum but we get it back. ... If we ever have to make changes, it won't be the first time for our subs.”

The Lakers return to league play on Friday at Linn-Benton.