HURON Huron coach Josh Lien could not have asked for a better way to open the volleyball season as the Tigers swept the Tea Area Titans in straight sets on Tuesday at Huron Arena, 25-7, 25-22, and 25-17.
The Tigers jumped out strong in the first set behind the serving of Jencie Goergen. The tally was up to 9-0 before first-year Tea Area coach Cari Hansen took a timeout to gather her team.
That was exactly how Coach Lien hoped it would work out.
You line it up so your best servers open the game. Jencie really was hitting her spots tonight, Lien observed. It makes it easy to sit in my seat when you jump out to a 10-0 lead to open things.
A hitting error by Huron finally got the Titans on the board at 10-1. Anaya Connors finally punched through the first kill for Tea Area to make it 14-2.
Addy Knight put down both the first and final points of the set as Huron coasted to a first-set victory, 25-7. Huron nailed seven service aces in the first set.
The Titans got the first point of the second set and held a lead until Huron went on an 8-0 run that gave the Tigers a 16-10 lead.
Huron held the lead, but Tea Area played with fight, forcing the Tigers into unforced errors. The Tigers survived with a hard-fought 25-22 victory.
The Tigers got the first point of the third set on a Titan hitting error. Goergen then landed her fifth ace of the match to quickly give Huron a 2-0 lead. She wasnt done, picking up multiple more aces in the first serving for Huron to push the lead out to 6-0 before Tea Area was able to get a kill.
A quick set by Goergen made it 10-2 for Huron. Huron hitting errors kept the Tigers from running away with the set early on. A Titan service error made it 15-9 Huron. Jaelee Olsen had an impressive effort at the net to get a block/kill for Huron, making the score 20-11 in favor of the home team.
An ace from Kya Tschetter capped the match, giving Huron a three-set sweep with a 25-17.
Goergen had eight total service aces on the evening for Huron, now 1-0. Kyla Peskey led the hitting with six kills. Knight added five kills and three service aces.
Lien was very pleased with the work of his team at the net.
We fed our middles nicely, but what Im most proud of with this team is that our intent to block the ball today was better than it was all last season, he smiled.
Huron took both lower-level matches, winning the junior varsity match by scores of 25-18 and 25-18, and the Tigers won the sophomore match, 26-24 and 25-19.
The Tigers are back in action Saturday, hosting the Huron Invitational Saturday morning.
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