Huron sweeps Brandon Valley too earn berth in AA tourney

HURON — The Huron Tiger volleyball team punched its ticket to the State Class “AA” volleyball tournament Thursday night, with a dominant 3-0 win over the Brandon Valley Lynx at Huron Arena. Set scores for the Tigers were 25-17, 25-9 and 25-12.
When the teams played last week, Huron also came out with the win, although it came after a sluggish start. That wasn’t an issue Thursday night, as the Tigers used a pair of back-breaking runs , one each in the second and third sets, to eliminate the Lynx.
“Our seniors tonight did a great job here tonight, keeping us loose and ready to play,” said a jubilant Tiger coach Shelly Buddenhagen. “I am just so happy for these kids and proud of them. We don’t impress on paper, but these girls set goals and worked hard to achieve them. They went after it all year.”
Huron never trailed in the first set, taking a quick 5-1 lead as Hollee Niehus, who would end the match with 19 kills and a pair of block-kills, found her groove early. Brandon Valley made a short rally, then proceeded to give Huron four straight points with three hitting errors and a service error, staking the home team to a 10-4 lead. The lead swelled to 10 points late in the match and Huron coasted to the 25-17 set win.
Set two saw the teams see-saw in the early going, with Brandon holding a 5-4 lead. But then Huron went on a 15-0 run, and when the smoke cleared the Tigers owned a 19-5 lead. Niehus and Alaina Dale took turns earning kill points, Havyn Heinz, who served the entire run, clocked a pair of aces and the Tiger defense refused to allow the ball to touch the floor. A service ace by Kylie Overbay closed the books on a 25-9 second set blowout.

The deciding set was put on ice early, as with Brandon holding a 2-1 lead, Huron went on another 15-0 lead - again with Heinz serving - to explode to a 16-2 lead and coasted to the 25-12 win.
Dale and Niehus again keyed the rally, Heinz added two more aces and setter Tenley Buddenhagen snuck a pair of kills that found surprised the Lynx and found the floor.
“Our serve receive and passing were both really good here tonight,” coach Buddenhagen said, “and that makes a big difference. We got Hollee settled in and comfortable and once our passing game began to work the entire team got comfortable and played well. Havyn put on a serving clinic here tonight and that is testament to the extra work that she puts in to make sure she is fully prepared. She works so hard and it shows.”
Heinz ended the night with three ace serves, and the Tigers totaled seven on the night. Dale tallied nine kills and Tenley Buddenhagen contributed five kills and handed out 27 set assists in the match. Heinz led the Tigers with 31 digs, while Tenley Buddenhagen added 10.
With the win, Huron moves to 17-7 on the season and will carry the No. 5 seed into the Class “AA” state tournament, set for Nov. 15-17 in Sioux Falls. It will be the 10th consecutive year that Huron will end its season at the state tournament. The Tigers finished with the consolation championship at last year’s state tournament.
Huron will play Watertown at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday to open the tournament.

Brandon Valley 17 9 12
Huron 25 25 25