YANKTON On paper, the young Yankton Gazelles were a fairly even matchup with the Huron Tigers, with similar roster makeup and even identical 2-6 records.
Thats not what happened on the court Tuesday night in Yankton, however, as the Gazelles swept the Tigers 25-21, 25-14 and 25-20 to push Hurons losing streak to seven.
Huron started well, using Yankton errors and a quick set kill by setter Jencie Goergen to jump out to a 4-2 lead. Thats when Burkley Olson took over at the net, putting down three straight kills.
A pair of hitting errors by Huron along with a kill apiece from Madison Gukeisen and Ellie Drotzmann for Yankton pushed Yankton into a lead. After Burkley Olson nailed a service ace, the Gazelles were up 10-6 and Tiger coach Josh Lien used his first timeout.
While the Tigers had a hitting error out of the timeout, they did go on a 3-0 run after that, keyed by strong serving from Addyson Knight, to climb within 11-9.
From that point, Yankton seemingly picked up two points for every one Huron would gather until Lien called his second timeout with the score 18-13 Huron.
Arian Pfitzer got a kill out of the timeout for Huron, but Yankton then went on a 5-0 run, finished with a pair of kills from Burkley Olson.
Huron got a spark off the bench as Camdyn Fuchs had a pair of kills and Jaelee Olsen had a kill off the bench to get Huron within 22-18, drawing a timeout from the Gazelles.
Huron had a service error and a hitting error to get to set point at 24-18, but then the Tigers got a kill from Chloe Carr, an ace from Knight, and a kill from Aly Davis to climb within 24-21 and draw Yanktons second timeout. The Gazelles set up Gukeisen out of the timeout, and she converted the kill for a 25-21 victory in the first set.
Huron was on its heels from the get-go in the second set as two Huron errors and strong hitting for Yankton pushed the lead out to 5-1 quickly. Carr kill made it 7-3 Yankton, but then the Gazelles quickly tacked on two more points, drawing the first timeout of the second set from Lien.
Huron was able to get another ace from Knight and a hitting error from Yankton out of the timeout, but the Tigers then had two quick hitting errors, and the two teams played back and forth with a five- or six-point deficit for Huron until Lien took his second timeout at 16-10 Yankton.
The Tigers then watched Yankton rattle off a 6-1 run out of the timeout to put them near another set victory at 22-11. A Davis kill and two Yankton hitting errors gave Huron a three-point run, but Yankton then closed out the set with multiple blocks at the net to come away with a 25-14 set victory.
Using players that seldom see the floor together, the Tigers came out with a bit of inspiration in the third set. After Hylton Heinz nailed an ace, Huron had a 6-2 lead. Unfortunately, the hitting errors that plagued the Tigers all night came back to bite, and Yankton followed a dominant set from freshman hitter Tyan Beste to reclaim the lead and quickly find themselves with an 18-10 lead in the final frame.
A pair of Beste kills made the lead 21-14, but Huron was not done, going on a 4-0 run to get within 21-18 and draw Yanktons second timeout of the set.
Errors gave Yankton a pair of points and then freshman Beste and sophomore Gukeisen finished off the match with back-to-back kills to turn away Huron 25-20 in the third set.
Yankton moves to 3-6 behind nine kills from Burkley Olson and eight apiece from Beste and Gukeisen.
Huron fell to 2-7. Davis led the way with nine kills and Pfitzer came alive in the third set to total six on the game.
Lien didnt have a lot of explanation on individual things the team did well, saying it was a tough night all around.
The mentality of the athletes and how we come out of the locker room – thats on me, Lien lamented. We didnt come out with fight; we were just off in all facets tonight.
Huron will host Aberdeen Central on Tuesday.
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