HURON – The Huron Tigers experienced one of the most exhausting matches in recent years, dropping a five-set match to the Aberdeen Central Golden Eagles Saturday at the Huron Arena.

Set scores for the Golden Eagles were 25-21, 20-25, 28-26, 31-33, and 15-8.

The two teams went back and forth in the first set, with neither team holding more than a three-point lead until the final point. Huron got on the board first behind a kill from Samantha Mangmoradeth. Aberdeen then scored three in a row on a pair of Huron hitting errors and an ace from Kenadi Withers.

A pair of Aberdeen hitting errors evened the score, and the two teams went back and forth from that point. Aly Davis nailed her fourth kill of the set to knot the score at 20-20, but that’s when Aberdeen went on a run.

Alivia Miller got a quick set kill and Huron had a pair of hitting errors to quickly put Aberdeen up 23-20, and Huron coach Josh Lien called timeout to gather the troops. Davis would get her fifth kill of the set out of the timeout, but then a pair of Huron hitting errors gave the Golden Eagles a 25-21 win in the first set as Huron committed 11 hitting and system errors in the first set.

The Tigers played a much cleaner second set, opening with an ace from setter Jencie Goergen. After Aurora Dreyer landed her first kill of the second set, Huron was up 5-1 early.

The two teams then went back and forth, with Huron never letting Aberdeen within three the rest of the way as Dreyer had a huge set, landing five kills as Davis added four kills, including set point to give Huron the 25-20 win.

The Golden Eagles opened the third set with a kill by freshman Kamdyn Borge on a tip over the block, Borge’s seventh kill of the match at that point. Amelia Rife had a block/kill for the visitors to knot the score at 3-3, but that’s when Huron went on a run that seemed to put them in a similar position to the second set.

An Aberdeen hitting error, two kills from Dreyer, including her 10th of the match, and a tip by Chloe Carr over the Aberdeen blockers gave Huron a 7-3 lead and led to a timeout from Golden Eagle coach Jackie Bindenagel.

The Golden Eagles were eventually able to get within one, at 11-10, but Huron pushed the lead back out to 19-15 after a kill from Addyson Knight led to a second timeout from Bindenagel.

Huron got an ace from Hylton Heinz and a kill from Mangmoradeth coming out of the timeout to go up 21-15, but that’s when things seemed to fall apart. Aberdeen sophomore 6’1” hitter Lauryn Burckhard nailed a kill through Huron blockers, to start a 4-0 Aberdeen run that included two Huron hitting errors. Coach Lien quickly called timeout, hoping to stem the tide, but a pair of Huron hitting errors out of the timeout knotted the set at 21-21.

Lien used his second timeout after Borge put down a kill to give Aberdeen a lead. Aberdeen would get to set point at 24-21 before Huron rallied to eventually take the lead at 25-24 after an Aberdeen hitting error.

However, Huron could never get the crucial two points in a row, and after leading 26-25, the Tigers watched a Borge kill spark a three-point rally to give the Golden Eagles a 28-26 win and a 2-1 lead in the match.

With their backs against the wall, Huron came out fast in the third set, with a Davis kill, a Dreyer kill, and an Aberdeen hitting error quickly putting Huron up 3-0.

Burckhard was the primary Aberdeen offense as Huron jumped to a 7-3 lead before a Bindenagel timeout to gather her team. Burckhard put a tip kill over Huron’s blockers, but Huron continued a similar path to the second set, keeping some distance between them and Aberdeen. A kill from Davis followed by her recording an ace from the service line gave the Tigers their largest at 18-10. The teams traded points to get to 19-11.

That’s when Burckhard took over the match. She recorded a kill and then moved to the service line, recording three aces as part of a 7-0 Aberdeen run that ate up both Huron timeouts and ended with Aberdeen within one point.

Huron responded with three consecutive points behind a kill from Mangmoradeth and a pair of kills from Dreyer, drawing the second timeout from Aberdeen, leaving neither coach with a timeout to use, but Huron up 22-18, needing just three points to force a fifth set.

After the timeout, the teams traded points until Huron was at set point at 24-20. That’s when a pair of Huron hitting errors began a 5-0 run by the Golden Eagles.

Two Aberdeen hitting errors gave Huron a 26-25 lead, but then Burckhard nailed a kill to ward off the end of the set and tie the score. This repeated again before Huron followed the Burckhard kill with a hitting error, giving Aberdeen match point at 28-27. That situation traded back and forth until Aberdeen led 31-30, seeking match point.

That’s when a Mangmoradeth kill and a pair of Aberdeen hitting errors led to a Huron 33-31 set win, forcing a deciding fifth set.

Unfortunately, the Tigers, who had started strong in each set, stumbled out of the gate in the deciding fifth set. After Burckhard got up for a block kill, Aberdeen was up 6-2 and Lien called timeout. Aberdeen would get another two points before a service error would give Huron its third point, but Burckhard had her third kill to begin a 5-0 Aberdeen run.

Facing match point at 14-4, Huron did rally with four straight points, but Borge’s first kill of the final set was the final point of the match for Aberdeen as they took a 15-8 fifth-set victory and a 3-2 match win.

The Golden Eagles move to 3-1 behind 17 kills and three aces from Burckhard. Borge had 14 kills while Withers had 10 kills and three aces.

Coach Lien said that Burckhard started slow, but once she got going, she used her height to her advantage, forcing Huron out of system.

“(Burckhard) took advantage of us a lot,” Lien observed. “We just couldn’t transfer from defense to offense when she was attacking us.”

Huron was led by Dreyer with 17 kills. Davis had 15 kills and a pair of aces. Mangmoradeth had 12 kills.

Lien was pleased with the strong starts in sets, but the errors (39 hitting errors, 12 service errors) hurt in such a tight match.

“We made a lot of unforced errors late in sets,” he said. “I was pleased to see us start out fast, but we can’t take our foot off the throttle, which is what happened in the middle of (the third and fourth) sets.”

He continued, “We really have to be cleaner with our hitting errors. When there was a chance to slow down one of their runs, we were the ones that made an error, not them.”

Aberdeen swept the lower levels, taking the junior varsity 25-11 and 25-19 and the “C” game 25-19 and 25-21.

The Tigers (3-3) travel to fifth-ranked Watertown on Tuesday.