SIOUX FALLS — The Huron Tiger volleyball team fought through a slow start to push the Sioux Fall Lincoln Patriots Thursday night, but ultimately the Patriots brought too much firepower and took the 3-0 win, with set scores of 25-10, 25-21 and 26-24.

Lincoln improves to 8-6 with the non-conference win, while the Tigers fall to 4-8 after dropping their fifth straight.

“We were making constant adjustments throughout the night,” said Huron coach Josh Lien at the conclusion of the match.
“We’re making improvements, but it’s just not happening very quickly.

Lincoln opened the first set with three straight points, but after a Patriot error, Samantha Mangmoradeth had two straight block-kills and Aurora Dreyer notched a kill to give Huron a 4-3 lead.

The teams traded points through two rotations and Dreyer’s third kill of the set knotted the score at 6-6.

A quick 7-3 run for Lincoln set them on top at 13-9 and prompting a Lien timeout.

Unfortunately for the Tigers, that nine-point barrier proved to be huge, as they remained there for most of the remainder of the first set, while Emma Kruse and Mallory Schneider devastated Huron from the service line, as Schneider notched four aces in the final half of the game and Kruse pounded home three kills.

Back-to-back kills by Elsa Basel closed the first set for SFL.

“We got out-aced by a wide margin in the first set,” Lien noted. “That means we weren’t able to push them with our serve and had difficulty handling theirs and it puts us behind on every chance we get when that happens. We just survived is all in that set.”

The second set started much the same, as Lincoln dominated the early going and found themselves up 12-7 after an Evelynn Carney kill and back-to-back Carney aces.

The onslaught continued until an Addy Knight kill stopped the run and made the score 20-10, Patriots.

Mangmoradeth scored for Huron and Lincoln began to show cracks, committing mistakes and allowing the Tigers to climb back into contention.

Four straight aces, around a Knight ace cut the margin to four, at 21-17, but kills from Natalie Dillon and Basel righted the ship and while two straight kills by Aly Davis kept the score manageable, the final Tiger kill attempt sailed long and the Patriots took the second set, 25-21.

Buoyed by their strong comeback in set two, the Tigers came out more on their game in the third.

Kills by Davis and Dreyer, along with a Maddy Jurgens ace staked Huron to a 7-5 lead before Carney woke up the Patriots offense with a kill and an ace made it 9-9.

Again, the nine-point threshold caused Huron problems, as the Tigers got stuck there while SFL ran three quick points.

Another mini run, of 5-1, staked Lincoln to a 17-10 lead, before Huron mounted a comeback.

Dreyer got things rolling with a kill, but three Patriot miscues, combined with a kill by Knight, an ace by Davis and a kill by Jencie Goergen cut the lead to two points, at 21-19.

Huron hung close, and when Mangmoradeth pounded home a kill the score was tied at 23-all.

Basel answered for Lincoln, pushing Huron to the brink again, but Dreyer found an open spot to tie the match again, at 24-24.

Unfortunately for Huron, that is where the rally ended, as two straight kill attempts sailed wide and SLF took the overtime set three win.

“We got things rolling with our serve and receive game in the set three — we out aced them — and that is part of why we were much closer,” Lien said.

On the night, Kruse had 12 kills, Hannah Baron added 11 and a pair of aces, Basel had eight kills and both Carney and Dillon notched seven.

Huron had three players with six kills each - Mangmoradeth, Davis and Dreyer.

“We said we can have one hitter with negative numbers but not two,” Lien said. “Tonight, all our hitters ended with positive numbers, but our chances were fewer.”

Huron will seek to rebound on Tuesday, with a home match with Pierre on Tuesday, then heads west for matches with Rapid City Stevens on Friday and Central on Saturday.

Lower level action saw Lincoln sweep both the JV and Sophomore matches.

JV scores were 25-17 and 25-21, while the Huron sophomores fell 25-21 and 25-19.