HURON The Huron Tigers gave the fourth-ranked Watertown Arrows everything they could handle Tuesday at Huron Arena, but in the end, the Arrows came away with a tough four-set victory.
Set scores for the Arrows were 25-16, 21-25, 25-21, and 27-25.
The Tigers certainly didnt come out strong in the first set. After getting the first point on a Watertown hitting error, Hurons own hitting misshots led to a quick burst for the Arrows, who were quickly up 5-1. Chloe Carr hit through a block to give Huron a point and break the run. Huron would then use errors by Watertown to get within one at 6-5.
Huron would play even with the Arrows for a bit, but after Huron evened the score at 9, the Arrows ripped off five straight points. The Tigers responded with five straight as well to tie the match at 14, but thats when Watertown leaned on their depth of hitters.
While the Arrows dont have a single six-footer on the front line, the quartet of Anna Hirtz, Siri Bach, Ellie Thury and Carighan Klatt pounded the ball at the Tigers, and an Arrow hitting error was the only Huron scoring in an 8-1 run to jump out to a 22-15 lead.
Huron got one more point, but the Arrows hitting was able to finish out the first set with a 25-16 victory.
The second set did not start a lot better as Watertown jumped out with the first four points. Huron then tied the score at four with their own run, and the two teams went back and forth until they got to 11-11. Thats when Watertown rattled off a 5-1 run, but Huron followed the strong hitting of Aly Davis to come back and tie at 16, then a Davis kill gave the Tigers the lead at 18-18.
Watertowns strong hitting then struggled to hit the mark, with four hitting errors down the stretch as Huron was able to capitalize for a 25-21 set win to tie the match at one set apiece.
Again, the Tigers opened the third set looking up at an early deficit as the Arrows jumped out to a 3-1 lead. A pair of Davis kills quickly tied the score. With the score knotted 4-4, Watertown went on a 6-1 run to open a lead. Huron chipped away bit by bit at that lead, but that deficit was more than they could overcome, never again tying the score as Watertown took the third set 25-21.
As was the case throughout the night, Watertown jumped out early with a 4-0 lead. The Arrows would hold a 7-2 lead when the Tigers would go on a tremendous run, outplaying Watertown for a 12-1 run to take a 14-8 lead.
After an Aly Davis service ace, Huron held its largest lead of the night at 18-10, but thats when the Watertown front line began to really make a difference, forcing awkward Huron hits and nailing their own hits.
Sophomore Torrence Tipton came off the bench for Watertown and immediately made a difference, nailing a kill to bring the Arrows within 21-20. A few points later, Tipton slammed the ball down the middle for a kill to give Watertown a 24-23 lead. With Huron up 25-24 and holding a chance to force a fifth set, Tipton put tremendous touch on a ball to get her third kill in a short period. A hitting error by Huron ended the fourth set, 27-25 in favor of Watertown.
Huron coach Josh Lien thought his team played well but ended up a shot or two short when they needed it most in the fourth set.
We had our best kids on the floor, but we just couldnt get it done in that moment, Lien lamented. We had a chance to get to set five, and anything can happen in a fifth set.
Watertown moves to 7-2 behind 16 kills from Bach. Hirtz had 12 kills and two aces, while Klatt had 10 kills.
Huron (2-5) got a huge game from Davis, with 14 kills and a service ace. Addy Knight had five kills and three aces, while Jencie Goergen nailed four service aces.
The Arrows swept the lower-level action, winning the junior varsity match by the score of 25-17 and 25-14. Watertown won the sophomore match, 25-17 and 25-20.
The Tigers will host top-ranked and unbeaten Harrisburg on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
Despite the loss, Lien believes the Tigers are playing among the top teams in the state and thinks Harrisburg could be a fun test for Huron.
At the end of the day, I think were a lot better than our record, Lien remarked. Harrisburg is going to be a tough matchup as theyre in the top 20 nationally, but were going to do everything we can to ruffle their feathers and see what happens.
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