No. 3 Huron inks win against Harrisburg

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HURON — The Huron Tigers got eight kills from Mikena Moore and Emily Dale, seven each from Alaina Dale and Libby Rounds and a little bit of revenge Tuesday night, with a 3-1 win over the Harrisburg Tigers in ESD volleyball action at Huron Arena, on Breast Cancer Awareness Night.
“A win is a win, right?” Tiger coach Shelly Buddenhagen asked rhetorically after the game. “We didn’t always play pretty tonight but we came out with the win. Good teams can struggle at times and still win and that was us tonight.”
Huron, which moves to 12-4 on the season holds the No. 3 spot in both the power points and state media poll, dropped a five-set decision to Harrisburg on Sept. 14. And despite some eerily similarities, Huron held on for the win, their seventh in a row. Harrisburg falls to 7-6 on the season.
Huron raced to a quick 5-1 lead and appeared to be focused on avenging the early season loss. Harrisburg managed to get the gap down to three points mid-set on a kill from Hallie Mertz. But a pair of kills from Schiltz, and ace from Havyn Heinz and some Harrisburg errors pushed Huron into a 7-0 run and them emerged with a 20-12 lead that they never gave back, taking the 25-13 win.
The second set saw Harrisburg jump out to the quick 5-1 lead, but Dale and Libby Rounds got the Huron ship righted. With the score tied, Tenley Buddenhagen and Rounds combined for a block, Alaina Dale got a kill and Schiltz notched an ace for an 11-7 lead. Huron held the lead the rest of the way - a quick run would get them a five or six point cushion - only to see Harrisburg mount a quick comeback. Huron never gave up the lead, however, and put a 25-22 win in the books.
It was Huron’s turn to open with a lead in the third set but Harrisburg fought back and knotted the score for the first time at 9-all. This time, however, instead of exchanging points, Harrisburg got a couple kills, from Abby Meister and Avery Kirkey, and took advantage of a couple of Huron errors to stake themselves to a 16-12 lead. Mertz, Kirkey and freshman Morissen Samuels scored on three straight chances and the lead swelled to seven points, and while Huron managed to cut the lead to four on different occasions, Harrisburg held on for the 25-18 win.

When the teams met in September, Huron also won the first two sets, then dropped sets three and four and chased the fifth set to a 23-21 final.
“Harrisburg is a good team,” coach Buddenhagen noted. “We knew they would make plays and they have a couple of very good outside hitters in Mertz and Meister. We struggled passing and hitting at times tonight, but I thought our serving kept them off balance at times as well. At least enough for the win.”
Huron wasn’t about to let that happen this time around, however. Powered by kills from Emily Dale and Schiltz, Huron opened up a 6-2 early advantage. Alaina Dale sandwiched kills around a single kill from Meister, before Rounds went back-to-back with kills and Tenley Buddenhagen scored an ace for a 15-9 lead and forced a timeout from Harrisburg.
Schiltz notched a kill out of the timeout, but Kirkley and Devanie Andre countered for Harrisburg. Back-to-back kills from Emily Dale, another from Schiltz and one from Rounds got the score to 20-12 and although Harrisburg forced the action late, the visitors were on life support and smacked the final point of the night into the net for the Huron win, 25-20.   
Once again, the Tigers were blessed with a balanced offensive attack as five people had at least five kills in the match. Heinz had two aces and a team-leading 26 digs, while Tenley Buddenhagen contributed 32 set assists in the match.
Next up for the Tigers is the annual West River trip, as they will take on Rapid City Stevens on Friday evening and comeback with a Saturday afternoon match against Rapid City Central.
“We always look forward to the long bus ride to the Hills,” coach Buddenhagen said. “It gives us some extra ‘road time’ as a team. We played well enough to win tonight, but came away with things we need to work on, which is good at this time of year. We need to keep improving as we get closer to the post season.”

Set scores
Harrisburg          13 22 25 20
Huron                 25 25 18 25