MITCHELL — The Huron Tigers got 30 kills on the night from Hollee Niehus against the Mitchell Kernels Tuesday night, the final one of which ended the five-set marathon win for Huron in ESD volleyball action.
Set scores for the Tigers were 20-25, 25-16, 25-12, 19-25 and 15-13 in the fifth and deciding game.
From the start, it was a match fitting two highly rated volleyball teams. Mitchell came into the game with a mark of 8-1 riding an eight-game winning streak into the No. 4 ranking in Tuesday’s Class “AA” poll. Huron entered the game with a mark of 8-2 and carried a four-game winning streak into the Mitchell High School Gymnasium.
The Tigers were among the “also receiving votes” portion of the poll.
The teams played very close in the first set, as Huron held an early 13-10 lead, only to watch the Kernels come back and take a three-point lead of their own at 18-15, and the Tigers never got closer the rest of the way as Mitchell jumped out 1-0 in the match.
“I was really happy of how we stayed calm after the first set tonight,” said Huron coach Shelly Buddenhagen. “We played well but couldn’t pull out that win.”
Huron rebounded well in the second set, racing to an early 6-4 lead, then going on a 6-1 spurt to build a cushion in the lead. The Tiger margin climbed to 11 points, at 20-9, on a Melissa Berg kill, and while the Kernels managed a late run, Huron persevered for the 25-16 evener.
Set three followed the same script, except that the Kernels had no answer to the front line defense of Niehus and Libby Rounds. A Niehus kill ignited a rally that included a pair of Rounds block/kills and two Niehus service aces.
“Mitchell has a lot of weapons and I thought that we did a great job with our blocking tonight,” Buddenhagen noted. “We may not have been able to block them all back for kills, but we got a hand on the ball and kept it alive for the back row to make a play. We said in the locker room before the game ‘WE ARE GOING TO BLOCK tonight’ and we did a good job of it.”
Again the lead swelled to double digits and this time the Tigers kept the foot on the gas, pulling away for the 25-12 win and a 2-1 lead in the match.
With their backs against the wall, the Kernels responded in the fourth set as they raced to a quick 8-1 lead, behind the power game of Mackenzie Miller and Carly Haring, as the two seniors consistently found a way to penetrate the Tiger defense. Mitchell led 19-12 when Huron mounted a comeback that got them to within three points late in the match, 22-19, before succumbing 25-19.
Both teams dug deep in the fifth set, as Miller scored the first two points of the set, only to see Huron respond with a Tenley Buddenhagen tip and a Niehus kill to knot the score. A Huron service error gave Mitchell a 5-4 lead, but Niehus pounded a kill down the middle and Haven Heinz collected an ace to stake the Tigers to a 6-5 lead. Mitchell tied the game numerous times, as Huron was unable to shed the pesky Kernels, but were never able to take a lead.
Berg tipped a point over Miller’s outstretched arms and a Mitchell hitting error make it 13-11, Tigers. Haring got a kill to drop but Niehus’ 29th kill make it 14-12 and number 30 ended the match.
“One of my mantras is ‘We have Hollee and they don’t,” coach Buddenhagen said after the match. “We got a lot of good plays from many players tonight and made some huge plays down the stretch for the win.”
In addition to Niehus’ effort, which included three aces on the night, Rounds had 11 kills and Alaina Dale chalked up 10 kills, many of them at times when the Tigers really needed points. Kylie Overbay came off the bench and was credited with a pair of aces.
Miller and Haring each had 14 kills in a balanced Kernel attack, while Chelsea Brewster added 13.
Huron, now 9-2, will host Yankton on Thursday at Huron Arena, in the Homecoming volleyball match.
Huron won the JV match 2-1 over Mitchell (17-25, 25-21 and 15-13) while the Tiger sophomores won in straight sets, 25-15 and 25-20.
