BROOKINGS — The Huron Tigers volleyball team continued its strong play Tuesday night, taking a 3-0 shutout win over the Brookings Bobcats in ESD volleyball action.
The teams both participated in Huron’s Invitational last weekend, but did not meet in the four-team round robin event. Huron finished 4-0 on Saturday, while Brookings finished 1-3.
Huron won in straight sets, 25-17, 29-27 and 25-21, but as the scores show, the match was close throughout.
“This was a good win for us tonight,” said Tiger coach Shelly Buddenhagen after the match. We knew were were going to be for a battle, and we knew we needed to remain calm and do what we want to do and need to do to be successful.”
Huron got off to a good start in the first set, spinning a Hollee Niehus block and a Morgan Harrison ace serve to a quick 4-1 lead. While the Huron lead ballooned at times to five points on two occasions, the Tigers couldn’t shake the Bobcats, who continually found a way to claw their way back into the match.
A Niehus block-kill pushed the lead to 19-15 for Huron, and after a Brookings score, Mikena Moore sandwiched a pair of kills around a Brookings hitting error for a 22-16 Tiger lead.
A service error on the Bobcats, a Tenley Buddenhagen kill and another mishit by Brookings and Huron had the first set.
The second set was a near mirror image, as the Bobcats staked themselves to an early lead and fought off Huron throughout the match.
After a Bobcat hitting error cut the lead to 9-7 for the home team, Brookings ran the next five points for a 14-7 lead and spurred coach Buddenhagen to call a timeout.
“We got in trouble there in the first part of the second set,” Buddenhagen agreed. “They controlled us and carved us up because they were keeping us from doing what we wanted to do. During the timeout we talked about doing what we needed to do to get things going our way again, then went out and did it.”
Three straight Huron points cut the lead to four, but again Brookings pulled away to a five-point bulge.
But kills by Niehus and Moore, plus a Niehus block cut it to three and established a bit of momentum for the Tigers. Niehus would end with 13 kills in the match, while Moore contributed 10. Niehus also was credited with three block-kills
Another Moore kill cut the lead to two, but a hitting error on Huron a magic tip that found the floor for the Bobcats had the Tigers staring at a 20-16 deficit.
The teams traded points, before kills by Tenley Buddenhagen and Niehus cut the lead back to three, and for a brief period of time, Brookings couldn’t get things to work. A pair of hitting errors and a net violation made it 24-all and forced extra play.
Twice Brookings took a one-point lead and both times the Tigers evened the score. Huron took its first lead of the set on a service ace by Niehus, but Brookings scored on a block-kill.
A Moore kill put Huron up by a point and Alaina Dale ended the set with a service ace that glanced off a Brookings player for the win. On the night, Huron would chalk up nine service aces.
Huron sprinted to an 8-2 lead and looked to be heading toward a quick exit. But the Bobcats got a jumpstart from a Kylie Tucker kill and went on their own 8-2 run to knot the score at 10.
The set see-sawed from that point, although neither team was able to take more than a two-point lead, until Moore put the Tigers up 23-20. From there Huron quickly applied the coup de grace and claimed the ESD win.
“This was a good win because everyone contributed,” Coach Buddenhagen said. “We weathered the momentum change in the third set and settled ourselves. We served well at times, but also had several service errors tonight. We get into trouble when we try to serve for aces, instead of just making good serves, that are hard to handle.”
Next up on Thursday night, Huron continues its early-season road trip when it visits Watertown, before heading to Sioux Falls to tangle with the O’Gorman Knights on Sept. 4.
“Brookings was a good test for us and we really stole that second set,” Buddenhagen said. “We’ll head to practice tomorrow and find things we need to improve before we go to Watertown, then make the adjustments.”
Brookings was led by Tucker and Johanna Miller with eight kills each, while Kailee Bartels added seven kills. Michaela Jewett had 27 set assists in the game
Harrison had three of Huron’s nine aces, while Harrison and Niehus each had two. Tenley Buddenhagen accounted for 25 set assists, and Heinz led all defenders with 28 kills.
Huron (5-0) 25 29 25
Brookings (1-4) 17 27 21
PHOTO BY TROY MARONEY/BROOKINGS REGISTER Huron’s Libby Rounds (22) hits the ball past Brookings’ Regan Weisbeck (6) and Kylie Tucker (3) for a kill during the first set of the Tigers’ Eastern South Dakota Conference sweep of the Bobcats on Tuesday night at the BHS Auxiliary Gymnasium.
