PHOTOS BY MIKE CARROLL/PLAINSMAN
In the first photo, on the left, Huron’s Libby Rounds spikes the ball against Mitchell’s Kaspen Am during their match Tuesday at Huron Arena. On the right, Huron’s Brynn Gose spikes the ball against a Mitchell defender as teammate Mikena Moore looks. In the second photo, Huron’s Brooke Schiltz (20) and Emily Dale (9) go up for a block on a spike by Mitchell’s Cameryn Logan.
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Benjamin Chase of the Plainsman
HURON — In their yearly Stand up to Cancer game at the Huron Arena, the Huron Tigers defeated the Mitchell Kernels 25-7, 25-15, 25-19.
The Tigers came out strong, drawing a Mitchell timeout with a 10-2 early lead that was fueled by five Kernel hitting errors.
Things didn’t change after the timeout as the Tigers pushed the lead out to 17-4 before a second Kernels timeout of the set. Mitchell had recorded nine hitting errors at the time of the timeout.
The Tigers rode the excellent serving of Lexy Gilbert and even more Mitchell errors to close out the set 25-7. The Kernels recorded just two points off kills in the set. Huron errors made up the rest of the Kernel scoring in the first set.
Mitchell took their first lead of the match at 2-1 in the second set, but Huron stormed back to the lead, but the Kernels stayed within striking distance until the Tigers got to double-digits, when Huron was able to extend its lead to as many as five.
A Mitchell timeout was met with a trio of Brooke Schiltz kills just out of the set to push the Huron lead to 22-15 and draw a second Kernels timeout of the second set.
The Tigers spread out their hitting in the second set with four girls recording at least three kills in the set as they won 25-15.
Coach Shelly Buddenhagen was pleased with the Tigers attack on the night.
“I think we did a nice job of spreading around the ball and Mitchell didn’t have an idea where we were going with the ball,” Buddenhagen observed.
The third set opened up very similar to the first set as Mitchell committed four hitting errors and recorded one of their points on a Huron service error as the Tigers built an 8-2 lead before Mitchell coach Deb Thill called a timeout.
While the Kernels didn’t immediately climb back in, Mitchell chipped away at the Tiger lead bit by bit until a three-point run brought Mitchell to a tie at 17-17. The Tigers got the lead back to 21-18 with a run before a final Kernel timeout.
A pair of Emily Dale kills and a Mikena Moore service ace closed out the final points to give the Tigers the 25-19 set victory and the match sweep.
Huron moved to 13-4 on the year with the victory behind a balanced hitting attack led by Brooke Schiltz with 12 kills and Emily Dale with 11 kills. Brynn Gose added nine kills.
The Kernels fell to 5-11 with the loss. Taylor Haring led Mitchell with seven kills while Camryn Logan added six kills and a service ace.
Huron won the JV match 25-12, 25-13 and won the sophomore match 24-26, 25-17, 15-4.
The Tigers host Rapid City Stevens on Friday.
