PIERRE The Huron Tigers fought back from significant deficits in the first two sets, then jumped out to big leads in the final two sets to secure a four-set victory over the Pierre Governors 30-32, 25-21, 25-23, and 25-16 on Tuesday in Pierre.
Huron moves to 7-12 with the victory and Pierre falls to 6-10.
The first set looked like a Governor run-away from the start. A kill by Aly Davis, one by Jencie Goergen and an ace by Hailey Rogers forged a 4-4 tie for the Tigers, but back-to-back errors on Huron ignited a 9-1 run for Pierre that Campbell Cronin capped with her second kill of the match, giving the Governors a 13-5 lead.
Huron wasnt able to get any closer and trailed by nine points, at 21-12 before kills by Aurora Dreyer and Samantha Mangmoradeth got Huron started. Pierre got a kill from Addison Soma and an ace from Savannah Fullerton to re-establish momentum, but a kill by Mangmoradeth ignited a rally for Huron.
Rogers was the catalyst, as the 5-foot, 5-inch junior, who sees action as a serving specialist did just that, chalking up an astounding five aces on her rotation, which, melded with a kill by Dreyer, another Davis kill and an ace by Maddy Jurgens knotted the score at 24-all.
From there, the teams simply traded points and errors, until a Soma kill tied the set at 30-30. A pair of errors on the Tigers closed the 32-30 set for the Governors, however, and Huron looked to rally for the second set.
It nearly didnt happen.
The teams were again back-and-forth in the early going, but Pierre again forged into the lead, on the strength of a 8-2 run, keyed by Soma and Cronin and when a Tiger kill attempt sailed long, Pierre again led the set by nine points.
This time it was Chloe Carr, as the 6-foot junior chalked up a pair of kills and shared a block-kill with Addy Knight to get the momentum on Hurons side of the net. Two more Knight kills, as well as one each from Goergen and Mangmoradeth tied the score at 18-18, before Hylton Heinz laced an ace to give Huron a lead.
Four more quick points by Huron put the score at 23-18, but Pierre rallied, before Knight dropped a kill smack dab in the middle of the Governor defense for the 25-21 Huron win.
Huron coach Josh Lien projected that Pierre would come out strong on senior night in their place and was pleased with how his club handled the early energy.
It is a see-saw battle. We knew that it was senior night and we would have to weather an early storm, observed Lien. We didnt panic and worked into set two with a little momentum. The girls responded brilliantly from an early deficit.
Rather than play from behind in the third set, the Tigers decided to come out firing as a pair of Mangmoradeth kills and three Hylton Heinz aces made it 5-0 Huron quickly in the third set. Pierre began to work back into the set, going on a pair of three-point runs, the second of which knotted the score at 10-10.
A Pierre service error and a quick-set kill by Goergen got Huron a 12-10 lead but Pierre then went on another three-point run to take their first lead of the set at 13-12.
The two teams went back and forth for a few points, but then Jaycee Bauer took over from the left side, getting three kills in a 6-0 Pierre run that put the Govs up 19-14.
Mangmoradeths 10th kill of the night broke the Pierre run, and she and Dreyer quickly combined to go on a 4-0 run. Goergen added another quick-set kill to knot the score at 19 and draw a Pierre timeout.
The two teams went back and forth for three points out of the timeout, but a Dreyer kill knotted the score at 22 and she added two more quick kills to put Huron up 24-22. Campbell Cronin tipped a kill over the Huron blockers to make it 24-23, but then a combo block by Davis and Carr landed on Pierres side of the court to close a 25-23 set win and give Huron a 2-1 lead in the match.
Huron fell behind early in the fourth set, with a four-point run and a three-point run early setting Pierre up with a 9-5 lead.
Huron then began to really utilize their hitters in unusual positions, with Carr nailing to kills from the side and Goergen dropping in another quick-set kill to tie the set at 11 and draw a Pierre timeout.
Though Bauer nailed a kill down the line out of the time out, Huron was the one that quickly went on a nine-point run, eating up Pierres final timeout and building a 22-13 lead before Pierre broke the scoring run.
Hurons hitting angles, especially Dreyer working from the middle, threw off the Pierre receiving and the Govs made multiple errors before Dreyer hit a kill off the fingertips of the blockers for match point to close out a 25-16 set win and a 3-1 match victory to equal the 3-1 win the Tigers garnered over Pierre
The Tigers serving game was a big key for the victory. Rogers ended the evening with seven aces and Heinz had four as Huron totaled 14 aces as a team.
Lien was effusive in his praise for Rogers efforts.
From a coaching perspective, some of those days shes going to make me look brilliant, Lien laughed. Shes got one job, and she did it well tonight. If its not for Hailey, were not in those early sets.
The Huron attack was led by Mangmoradeth, with 13 kills. Dreyer added 12 kills. Knight talled nine kills, Carr had eight, and Goergen had seven in a balanced Huron attack.
Lien said his setter, Goergen, deserved credit for the teams offensive execution.
We were using different girls in different spots, Lien explained. Jencie spread the ball around and set up different girls in those different spots.
Huron now has a week off before hosting Mitchell for senior night on Oct. 29. Lien hopes the team can finish strong and use the extra rest to prepare for the final games.
Every win that we can muster now impacts our chance in the SoDak 16, Lien observed. We can now slow things down at practice and focus on some individual things with some time off to get ready to finish strong.
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