HURON The Harrisburg Tigers volleyball team, ranked first in Class AA and in the top 25 nationally, swept through the Huron Tigers in straight sets Saturday at Huron Arena.
Set scores were 25-16, 25-8 and 25-16.
The first set opened with Harrisburgs All-State sophomore setter Joselyn Samuels opening scoring with a quick set from the setter position. Huron fought hard, though, and had a 3-1 early lead on three Harrisburg hitting errors.
The two teams exchanged points. Huron countered the depth of height on the Harrisburg roster by doing plenty of tipping and quick sets, but Harrisburgs 6-foot-4 Kya Keegan was able to pick up three early kills.
With Huron up 9-7, Harrisburg got a quick set kill by Samuels to start a rally to grab a 10-9 lead and force Huron coach Josh Lien to a timeout. The timeout did not slow down Harrisburg, though, as they used the big hitting of USD-commit Gabi Zachariasen used big hitting to garner four kills during a 7-0 run that put Harrisburg up 14-9.
Huron got a pair of points off a kill by Arian Pfitzer and an ace from Aly Davis, but Harrisburg quickly got those points right back to force Liens second timeout of the set with the visitors up 16-11.
Again, the timeout did not slow Harrisburg, as they rattled off two points out of the break before Kyla Peskey had a block/kill for Huron to end another Harrisburg run, with Huron now trailing 18-12.
The teams exchanged points back and forth from that point, but Harrisburg had the established lead. At 22-16, Harrisburg rattled off the next three points, finishing the set with a hitting error by Huron to win the first set 25-16.
The second set was not one that Coach Lien will want to include on the end-of-season highlight reel. Hitting errors by Huron gave Harrisburg a 4-0 lead to open the set.
A service error by Harrisburg got Huron on the board and Harrisburg errors were the only points for Huron until Pfitzer got a kill to get Huron within 8-3 early.
Zachariasen continued to dominate the hitting in the match, tallying her 12th kill of the match already on Harrisburgs 14th point of the second set, giving the visitors a 14-7 lead and drawing a timeout from Coach Lien.
Harrisburg only picked up steam coming out of the timeout, going on an 11-1 run to close out the set, 25-8. Six of the eight Huron points were recorded on Harrisburg errors.
Getting the Tigers out of system was an observation that Huron coach Lien made on the Harrisburg game plan on the day.
They jump out of the gym; they swing hard; they serve aggressively, Lien observed. They surprised us on serve receive with a different wrinkle in their serving, serving a lot short. and we couldnt adjust.
A kill by Bergen Stiff of Harrisburg and one for Hurons Pfitzer opened the third set. Huron took a lead at 3-2 after a Hylton Heinz ace, but the visitors quickly ripped off five straight points to take the lead before Chloe Carr got her first kill of the afternoon to bring Huron within 7-4.
Harrisburg then ran off a streak of four straight points. Trailing 11-4, Huron ran off a few points of its own to get within 11-7.
Each time that Huron would get within three or four, Harrisburg would rattle off a string of points. Leading 16-12, Harrisburg brought Kennedy Kokenge in to serve. While not picking up many aces, Kokenges serving put Huron out of system for long runs in each of the first two sets. Lien called a timeout, and it was his most productive timeout as the home squad was able to break Kokenges serve on the next play.
The teams went back and forth until it was 20-16, and then Harrisburg closed out the match with five straight points, punctuated by a Huron hitting error to give Harrisburg the three-set sweep with a 25-16 third-set win.
Harrisburg (5-0) was led by Zachariasen with 22 kills and a service ace. Stiff tallied 10 kills.
Huron falls to 2-6. Aly Davis led the way with five kills and four aces.
We had trouble getting our middles involved, but the reality is that those guys are good, Lien noted. Harrisburg ate us up hitting, but theyre going to do that to anybody.
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