Huron sweeps Arrows to earn win in opener

WATERTOWN — Huron and Watertown opened the high school volleyball season with a very tight, intense Eastern South Dakota Conference battle in the Civic Arena on Tuesday.
Though the Tigers came away with a 3-0 victory, each set was closely contested and came down to the wire. The final scores for the three sets were 25-23, 25-19 and 25-22.
“In all three of those sets we had a lead at some point and Huron came back,” said Watertown head coach Rosemary Hirtz. “They are well coached. When they’re down they know how to stay even and push ahead. They might not constantly earn points, but they’re going to look for you to make that error and are going to keep that ball in play.”
The Arrows opened the season with new seating in the Civic Arena — part of an on-going project scheduled to finish in December — a new head coach in Hirtz and new all-white home uniforms. Unfortunately, some of the mistakes Watertown made throughout last season popped up throughout the match.
Each set brought its own theatrics, neither team really able to sustain momentum for an entire set. When one team went up, the other responded and then it was a race to 25. Huron was able to win those races with pesky defense and an overall effort from senior Jayda Shillingstad.
“I didn’t really know what to expect,” said Huron head coach Shelly Buddenhagen. “We knew what we had for strengths and weaknesses and we didn’t know what Watertown was going to have. I thought overall our effort, the way we controlled the ball and the way we controlled our emotions when things were starting to go bad for us, that we did a nice job.”
Shillingstad finished with 32 assists and three assists for Huron. Hollee Niehus had 10 kills and Kayla Schimke eight.
Watertown was led by Sophie Tietz and Mariah Gloe, who had seven kills apiece. Abby Johnson added six and McKenzie Buisker five. Tayler Corey had 14 digs and went 13-for-13 on serves.
“I think some things we need to work on is being more consistent,” said Hirtz. “Our setters have to do a better job setting the ball a little tighter to our hitters. Hitters can’t overrun the ball because I know that we’re going to be a very good offensive hitting team. We’re young, so we have to work into it.”

Hirtz also said that despite the loss, she felt the team played excellent defense against the Tigers. Huron, which is known for solid defense, just did a better job in the match.
“Serving, passing and defense,” said Buddenhagen of her team’s identity this season. “The littles were a little disappointed. There were some things that they thought they could do better, which I really like. That’s going to have to be our game this year. Serving, passing and defense.”
For Watertown, it was the beginning of what will be an on-going process of getting the sophomores (Tietz, Buisker, Alexx Bayles and Meghan Heggelund) more comfortable in their new roles. Though Tietz and Heggelund saw action last year, they are being asked to do some more this season. On Tuesday, each of the sophomores showed flashes of quality play, but it’s consistency that Hirtz is looking for.
“That’s where the younger part of them shows up,” said Hirtz. “They’ll have spurts of doing things really well and then they’ll go in spurts of having some mistakes that they need to clean up. That comes with age. The older you get the better you are at controlling that.”
Watertown continues its four-game homestand to open the season by hosting Brookings on Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Civic Arena. Huron hosts a cross-over tournament on Saturday and will face Sioux Falls Washington, Sioux Falls Roosevelt, Sioux Falls O’Gorman and Sturgis.

Huron     25 25 25
Watertown     23 19 25
Serving — Huron: Jayda Schillingstad, three aces; Isabell Ford, three aces; Watertown: Tayler Corey, 13-13; McKenzie Buisker, 8-8.
Hitting — Huron: Hollee Niehus, 10 kills; Kayla Schimke, 8 kills; Watertown: Sophie Tietz 14-18 with seven kills ; Mariah Gloe 20-24 seven kills; Abby Johnson 19-21 six kills; Buisker 16-19 with five kills.
Passing — Huron: Schillingstad 32 assists; Watertown: Alexx Bayles 28-28 with nine assists; Annie Norberg 46-46 with eight assists.
Block: Huron: Schillingstad, three assists; Schimke, two assists; Watertown: Meghan Heggelund, two assists.
Digs — Huron: Havyn Heinz, 26; Watertown: Corey, 14; Gloe, 12.

Photos:

Huron teammate Carlie Lentsch and Hollee Niehus leap to block Watertown’s Calyn Weiss’ hit during their season opening match on Tuesday in Watertown.

In the next photo, Huron’s Tenley Buddenhagen goes up for the spike as teammate Jayda Shillingstad sets the ball during a match against Watertown on Tuesday in Watertown.

PHOTOS BY NATHAN GIESE/WATERTOWN PUBLIC OPINION