BY JACQUE NILES
ABERDEEN AMERICAN NEWS
ABERDEEN — The only thing that wasn’t close in Saturday’s Eastern South Dakota Conference volleyball showdown between Huron and Aberdeen Central was the first set. And that was an anomaly.
The Golden Eagles pulled away from a 12-11 lead in the opening stanza, then clawed, scratched, fought and scrambled their way to a fifth set before falling in a 5-set battle Saturday night at Golden Eagles Arena.
Huron won by set scores of 12-25, 27-25, 25-22, 23-25 and 15-13.
“It’s just a process of us figuring out what to do in critical moments and learning how to win,” said Central coach Dennis Northrup. “We talked about that. We talked about it before the match and we talked about it after the Watertown match.”
Central ran away from a back-and-forth opener on a dead sprint, riding the serving prowess of Kayleigh Fauth and Grace Myhre to a 13-1 run to end the stanza.
“We weren’t prepared for Aberdeen’s serving,” said Huron coach Shelly Buddenhagen. “We couldn’t pass that ball. We just struggled passing. We talked about settling in and trusting our practice reps and trusting the process. We knew if we could pass, we had a chance to get some good swings or get Holly (Niehus) some good looks. But if we’re not in system, we were going to be in trouble.
PHOTOS BY JOHN DAVIS/ABERDEEN AMERICAN NEWS
Huron’s Melissa Berg, right, hits the ball past Aberdeen Central’s Madelynn Diede, left, during Saturday night’s match at the Golden Eagles Arena.
Next, Huron’s Tenley Buddenhagen, center and Mikena Moore, right, defend the net as Aberdeen Central’s Cassidy Gough, left, reaches to hit the ball during Saturday night’s match at the Golden Eagles Arena.