HURON — After suffering a setback to No. 2-ranked Rapid City Stevens on Friday, the fifth-ranked Huron volleyball team rebounded with a sweep against Rapid City Central on Saturday at Huron Arena.
The Tigers, who improved to 13-5, collected the win with set scores of 25-20, 25-9 and 25-23.
“The Rapid City Central coach really had her team prepared for two really good matches,” Huron coach Shelly Buddenhagen said. “They were super fired up. I was concerned for a while that Rapid City Central might outhustle us.
“Their libero made a ton of plays and they saved a lot of balls. I thought after we settled down a bit we did a nice job of controlling things emotionally when they kept digging the ball,” she said. “Sometimes when you make a good shot and give it all you got and they dig it that can take the wind out of your sails. I thought our kids controlled their emotions really well at that point and kept swinging, trying to find ways to score.”
After staking an early lead in the opening set, the Tigers were able to stretch their advantage to as many as seven points en route to the win.
A tip kill by Tenley Buddenhagen, a hitting error by the Cobblers and a kill by Melissa Berg gave Huron a 14-7 advantage.
Rapid City Central managed to cut the gap to just four points, but successful attacks by Alaina Dale and Hollee Niehus helped the Tigers boost their advantage back to six points at 18-12.
The Cobblers would get no closer than four points the rest of the way. Huron secured a 1-0 lead in the match with a 25-20 win.
Building on their momentum from the opening set, the Tigers used a 10-1 run to put Rapid City Central in a huge hole early in the second set.
With Isabell Ford on the service line, Huron rattled off five unanswered points to take an 8-2 lead before the Cobblers received their third point on a service error.
A Niehus kill regained the serve for the Tigers and they rattled off four unanswered points capped by a Libby Rounds kill to make it 13-3.
Rapid City Central struggled to recover from the double-digit deficit and would score just six more points before Huron ended the second set with a score of 25-9.
Despite facing the sweep, the Cobblers were able to hold the advantage for much of the third set.
Rapid City Central would build its biggest lead at 8-4, but a kill by Mikena Moore would start the comeback by the Tigers.
Moore’s fourth kill of the match brought Huron back to within a point at 9-8 and a pair of aces by Buddenhagen bookended a kill by Niehus to give the Tigers their first lead of the final set at 11-9.
The Cobblers would hold leads of 18-15 and 21-19 but it just wasn’t in the works for them to get the win as Huron would rally on both occassions.
After a serving error handed the serve back to the Tigers with a 21-20 deficit, Kylie Overbay stepped to the service line and brought Huron to match point. Following a kill by Berg, Overbay rattled off three consecutive aces to give the Tigers a 24-21 lead.

The Cobblers were able to climb back to within a point, but Moore ended the match with a tip kill for the Tigers.
“I thought we did serve the ball very well. Kylie is a really good server and that was huge for us,” Buddenhagen said. “A few times we were out of system there, but we were able to make plays and save some balls to come back a little bit.”
Niehus would finish with 11 kills on 31 of 33 attacks to lead Huron.
“Holly maybe came back a little bit today, she’s struggled a little bit the last two or three matches,” Buddenhagen said. “We found out that she may have a little bit of thigh injury, but I thought she had some really good swings.”
Dale had seven kills on 22 of 26 attacks, while Moore and Rounds each had five kills.
“Alaina Dale is making good progress. The athleticism and the calmness she brings to our team, are the things you can’t coach,” Buddenhagen said. “She’s done a lot of nice things for us, a lot of quiet things.
“She’s one of those kids that shows up, tries hard, does her job, says Thank You and walks away,”  she said. “She doesn’t need the limelight or anything like that. She’s just a really good teammate and I really like the way she is progressing.”
Buddenhagen tallied a team-high 29 assists for the Tigers and had three aces of the team’s 10 aces. Overbay also had a trio of aces.
Defensively, Huron was led by Havyn Heinz with 25 digs. Buddenhagen had 14 digs, while Ford and Dale had 13 and 12 digs, respectively.
No statistics were available for Rapid City Central, which dropped to 9-14.
The Tigers will return to action Tuesday with a 7 p.m. match against fourth-ranked Watertown at Huron Arena.
“I know since the last time we played Watertown, we circled this date,” Buddenhagen said. “We felt that we had a chance in Watertown and we let that opportunity slip away. They do have one of their hitters back that was injured, so they have a little bit different look. We are excited to play them.”

Rapid City Central     20  9  23
Huron         25  25  25

Statistics
Serving — RCC: na; H (10 aces: Buddenhagen 3 aces, Overbay 3 aces.
Setting — RCC: na; H (33 assists): Buddenhagen 29 assists.
Hitting — RCC: na; H (105-115 33 kills): Niehus 31-33 11 kills, Dale 22-26 7 kills, Moore 16-17 5 kills, Rounds 17-18 5 kills.
Digs — RCC: na; H (83): Heinz 25, Buddenhagen 14, Ford 13, Dale 12.
Bocks — RCC: na; H (3 solo, 2 assisted): Rounds 1 solo 1 assisted, Berg 1 solo, Dale 1 solo.

Friday’s match
Rapid City Stevens     16  25  25  25
Huron         25  19  12  17

Statistics
Serving — RCS: na; H (70-74 6 aces): Buddenhagen 16-17 3 aces, Niehus 14-14 1 ace, Dale 11-12, Overbay 11-11.
Setting — RCS: na; H (25 assists): Buddenhagen 22 assists.
Hitting — RCS: na; H (127-146 25 kills): Niehus 30-37 8 kills, Rounds 20-20 7 kills, Berg 17-19 4 kills.
Digs — RCS: na; H (80): Heinz 29, Niehus 17, Buddenhagen 10.
Blocks — RCS: na; H (4 solo, 2 assisted): Dale 2 solo, Moore 1 solo 1 assisted, Buddenhage 1 solo.