HURON — The Watertown Arrows went all out against the Huron Tigers and efforts paid off as a 4-1 Arrows’ victory ended Tuesday night’s volleyball match.
Set scores for the Arrows were 25-13, 22-25, 25-15 and 26-24, which improved Watertown’s season record to 11-7, while Huron dropped to 11-10 on the season.
After Huron swept the Arrows 3-0 in a hard fought match back in August, the two teams, ranked side by side make every effort for points as they come close to the end of the regular volleyball season.  
“We knew that we were going to be facing the hot Watertown team, and they are a good team” said Tiger Coach, Shelly Buddenhagen. “We made way too many serve-receive mistakes, which was our Achilles heel tonight.”
The match started with early service errors from both teams, but Watertown quickly picked up momentum with Meghan Heggelund taking three early kills. Huron struggled with errors but managed to tie a few times with the Arrows in the first half of the set, but after the Tigers took their first time out at 15-10, Watertown took over the game. Mariah Gloe hit three kills in a row for the Arrows, but the Tigers still striving to earn points gained a couple kills from Hollee Niehus before the set was over at 25-13.
“When we cant pass we are going to be in big trouble, so we have to work on making our passing a lot better,” Buddenhagen said. “We have got to keep working on our strengths, define those and not worry about the negatives right now.”
Huron led for the first time early in set two with a Jayda Shillingstad ace bringing the score to 3-2. Isabelle Ford got a pair of aces keeping the Tigers in the lead at 8-4 before the Arrow’s took their first time out. Huron had an eight point run, which ended with a service error, but the Tigers kept the lead throughout the second set. Abby Johnson tried to keep the Arrows alive with a couple kills, but with too many errors they didn’t make the cut. Shillingstad came back from the Watertown time out with an ace followed by a kill from Tenley Buddenhagen and Niehus, which took the score to 23-14. Huron led by ten points at 21-11, but the Arrows caught fire and earned 11 points before Huron took the win at 25-22, each team with a win at the end of the second set.
“We are not the tallest team, and going against six-footers is a challenge,” said Buddenhagen. “Our kids battled really hard and are always going to battle.”
The third set stayed close to start with, but the Arrows had a five-point run at a 9-5 score. Gloe came back from a Huron time out with back to back aces, and Watertown stayed ahead with a nine-point lead as McKenzie Buisker brought the score to 22-12. Buddenhagen answered for Huron with an ace to make an attempt to stay in the game, but Gloe hit three kills which ended the third set at 25-15.

Kayla Schimke started off the fourth set with a kill, and Huron took an early lead, with a Buddenhagen ace and Watertown errors, earning a score of 7-4. Heggelund and Buisker each hit a couple kills for the Arrows, which built the lead to 13-10, and a Gloe kill prompted Huron to take a time out. The Tigers stayed behind in the second half of the fourth set, but picked up the pace with points from Moore, Niehus and Buddenhagen. This sent Watertown into a time out with the lead at 20-19. Huron then went a five point run and took the lead at 21-20. Set four stayed close as both teams fought for points, Niehus hit her fourteenth and final kill before a pair of Huron errors gave the game away 26-24 to the Arrows.
Buddenhagen announced, “Melissa Berg has been hungry to get back in after her fractured ankle in September. She will be getting back into practice tomorrow, and we are looking forward to working with her again.”
Huron hosted Breast Cancer Awareness Night in the Huron Arena on Tuesday night; and will be back on Tuesday, Oct. 31, to host the Brookings Bobcats.

Huron     13  25  15  24
Watertown     25  22  25  26

Hitting: HU - Hollee Niehus, 13 kills; Tenley Buddenhagen, 5 kills; Kayla Schimke, 4 kills; Mikena Moore, 4 kills; WA - McKenzie Buisker, 12 kills; Abby Johnson, 11 kills; Sophie Tietz, 9 kills; Mariah Gloe, 9 kills.
Setting: HU - Jayda Shillingstad, 25 assists; WA - Annie Norberg, 28 assists.
Serving: HU - Shillingstad, 5 aces; Buddenhagen, 3 aces; Isabell Ford, 1 ace; WA - Gloe, 2 aces; Calyn Weiss, 1 ace; Buisker, 1 ace.
Digs: HU - Havyn Heinz, 34; Shillingstad, 13; Niehus, 12; Ford, 11, Alexis Urena, 8.
Blocks: HU - Shillingstad, 3; Niehus, 1; WA - Tietz, 8; Nordberg, 4.

Photos:

Huron’s Tenley Buddenhagen sets the ball during a match against Watertown on Tuesday at Huron Arena.

Next, Huron’s Jayda Shillingstad sets the ball as teammates Hollee Niehus, front, and Tracy Albrecht go up for a spike during a match against Watertown on Tuesday at Huron Arena.

And next, Huron’s Alexis Urena passes the ball as teammate Havyn Heinz looks on during a match against Watertown on Tuesday at Huron Arena. 

Photos by Mike Carroll/Plainsman