BROOKINGS Huron Tigers volleyball coach Josh Lien has been saying all season that his squad was better than its record. This week, theyve shown it.
After a sweep on Tuesday over Aberdeen Central, the Tigers traveled to Brookings and took another sweep Thursday by scores of 25-13, 25-20 and 25-15.
After the Bobcats jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the first set, Huron quickly evened the score and the two teams went back and forth until the teams were even at 6-6.
Thats when Huron leaned on junior Addyson Knight, with a pair of kills and then a long stretch of serving that allowed Huron to jump out to an 11-6 lead. Avery Dentlinger got a kill for Brookings to break the Huron run, but Huron continued to pick up a pair for every point Brookings tallied, drawing another Brookings timeout with Huron ahead, 16-9.
The teams traded points out of the timeout, but at 18-12, Knight went back to serve, and her serving disrupted the Brookings hitters, resulting in three aces during the run and multiple Brookings hitting errors. A service error by Brookings closed out the match 25-13 for Huron.
Lien said the serving in the first set was exactly what the Tigers needed to do, and it set the tone for the night.
Our servers were our first line of defense tonight, he said. We served to the back line and felt like that put Brookings out of system all night.
Brookings jumped out fast on Huron errors in the second set, quickly taking a 7-2 lead, but Huron got strong middle hitting from Chloe Carr to spark a 9-2 run that had Huron ahead 11-9 and drew the first Bobcat timeout of the set.
Whatever Brookings coach Erinn Thomas said in that timeout, it worked, as Brookings rattled off a 10-3 run that blew through two Huron timeouts.
Lien stated at the second timeout, taken with Brookings up 19-14, the team did a lot of the talking for him, and he was sure they would come out strong.
That was an understatement, as Arian Pfitzer got the Tigers the serve with a kill, and Ava Wambach went on a long run of strong serving to get Huron the lead back at 20-19 and burn Brookings last timeout.
The Bobcats would break Wambachs serve, but after a Brookings service error, Knight stepped back to the service line and after a pair of kills from Jencie Goergen and Carr, she would nail her sixth ace of the night to close out the second set, 25-20.
Early hitting errors and a strong showing from Brookings senior outside hitter Macy Even put the Tigers down 6-4, but thats when Huron took over the match.
Wambach stepped back to serve, and she picked up a pair of aces and generally forced Brookings into bad position as Huron went on an 11-0 run and ate up both Brookings timeouts. A Wambach service error was the only thing that ended the run.
Knight had a pair of big kills and Aly Davis joined in the fun over the back half of the set, totaling five kills in the final set.
Pfitzer beat the defenders with a spike to give the Tigers the third set, 25-15, and earn the sweep.
Huron moves to 4-7 behind a big night from Knight, with eight kills and seven aces. Davis led the hitting with 11 kills.
Carr added eight kills and Wambach had three of Hurons 11 service aces.
The Bobcats fall to 6-13. Even finished with 12 kills, though she was unable to score for long stretches of sets with the Huron defense focused on her. Sloan McLagan recorded four aces.
The Bobcats swept the lower-level action, winning the junior varsity match by scores of 24-26, 25-12 and 15-11. Brookings took the sophomore match, 25-21 and 25-15.
Coach Lien knew that his team could play the way they have this week, and hes excited to see them work to keep up the momentum next week.
If we wanted a different outcome, we had to come to practice and earn it, Lien smiled. We dont let anyone take a play off, whether its on the court or cheering on from the sidelines.
The Tigers travel to Sioux Falls Washington on Tuesday.
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