HURON — The Huron Tigers continued the Brookings Bobcats misery, sending them to their sixth straight loss on Thursday night in a sweep, 25-13, 25-23, 25-13.
Brookings took an early 3-1 lead, but the serving of the Tigers was the story of the first set as Huron used an 8-1 run with a host of aces at the service line from Mikena Moore and Hamtyn Heinz to take control of the set.
Huron’s defense was on point in the set as well, keeping the Bobcats out of sorts throughout the first set. A late 4-1 Brookings run got the score closer, but the Tigers closed out the first set 25-13.
Coach Shelly Buddenhagen recognized the importance of serving for the success of her team. “When we play, we’re trying to serve aggressively and trying to get them into chaos,” Buddenhagen observed.
The Tigers were not as sharp in the second set, with numerous service and hitting errors giving the Bobcats momentum. Brookings also did much better in their own passing game and serve receive to force Huron to be excellent to earn a point, which they simply couldn’t do.
After Coach Buddenhagen called a time out with Brookings leading 13-8, Huron’s game quickly tightened up with crisp passing and communication.
While Huron was passing and hitting much better, service errors kept the Bobcats in the set as the Tigers committed five service errors in the set before finally pulling out the second set by a narrow 25-23 margin.
Coach Buddenhagen saw the strain of homecoming week in the second set. “The kids were absolutely exhausted,” she commented, “but they took care of business.”
Huron rolled out to a 9-0 lead behind excellent serving from Tenley Buddenhagen and sharp passing in the hitting game. The Bobcats never really got into the game, and the Tigers began to substitute players in to allow for every player on the roster to get court time in the game before finally taking the third set 25-13 to close out the match.
The Bobcats dropped to 1-6 on the season. They were led by Gracie Adamson with 5 hits.
Huron moves to 6-2 with the victory. Brooke Schiltz led the Huron hitting attack with 13 kills.
Tiger volleyball is off for a week, returning to action at home against Harrisburg next Thursday at 7 p.m.
