Harrisburg defeats Tigers volleyball team
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HURON — For the third time in as many games the Huron Tigers faced a higher-ranked opponent. After downing both Sioux Falls O’Gorman and Aberdeen Central, the hometown Tigers vaulted into the No. 3 spot in the most recent poll. Huron hosted the Harrisburg Tigers, who came in 6-0 and ranked No. 1 in the state on Tuesday night at Huron Arena.
The match lived up to all expectations. In the end, Harrisburg came out on top, 3-1, but saw itself forced into overtime in three of the four sets. Scores for the visitors were 24-26, 26-24, 25-22 and 27-25.
“We didn’t come out on top here tonight and I know some of the girls are disappointed,” said Huron coach Shelly Buddenhagen. “But really, I’m encouraged. We went toe-to-toe with one of the best teams in the state and ended up falling by a total of five points. That’s encouraging to me.”
Huron took an early lead behind strong starts from Hollee Niehus, Jayda Shillingstad and Kayla Schimke, jumping to a 7-4 lead. Harrisburg came back to tie the game, then go on a 8-1 run of its own to forge ahead 12-8.
Huron again scratched its way back, forging a 14-14 tie, only to see Harrisburg score three of the next four points for an 18-15 lead. A Tenley Buddenhagen kill stopped the rally, but Harrisburg continued to maintain a lead. Huron stayed close, and when Harrisburg hit a serve into the net, had a lead again.
Meghan Krull had a kill for Harrisburg and a hitting error put the visiting Tigers on the precipice of the win.
But Harrisburg again hit it into the net on the serve, Schimke collected another kill and a Harrisburg hitting error gave the first set to the home team, 26-24.
If the first set was a nail-biter, the second probably cost a couple of knuckles.
Harrisburg had early two-point leads, but a Schimke kill and an ace from Shillingstad knotted the score at 5-all. From that point through the rest of the match, neither team had more than a one-point lead until the very end when Harrisburg emerged with a 26-24 win that evened the match at a set apiece.
“We preach ‘passing and serving,’ ‘serving and passing,’” coach Buddenhagen said. “Tonight we just had too many serving errors. And we have to figure out our blocking. We just gotta block better. We have to be able to make adjustments on the fly and didn’t get it done tonight.”
Photos:
Huron’s Isabell Ford passes the ball during a match against Harrisburg on Tuesday at Huron Arena.
Next, Huron’s Jayda Shillingstad goes airborne to make a volley during a match against Harrisburg on Tuesday.
And next, Huron’s Hollee Niehus spikes the ball during a match against Harrisburg on Tuesday.
Photos by Mike Carroll of the Plainsman