BRANDON — After a close first set, the Huron Tigers struggled in sets two and three Thursday night, dropping a straight set 25-23, 25-10, 25-16 match to the Brandon Valley Lynx, in the regular season finale for both squads.

Brandon Valley will carry a record of 16-11 and will host a SoDak 16 game next week, while Huron will be on the road with a record of 8-14 with one chance to earn a spot in the Class AA state tournament.

“We struggled tonight with serve receive,” said Huron coach Josh Lien. “And when we did get a playable ball, their front line blocked us very strongly. They are big, they are physical and tonight they were just much more aggressive tonight.”

The first set followed a script of a great ESD Conference matchup. The teams traded points and the lead throughout, as Huron used a kill by Addy Knight and two from Aurora Dreyer to forge a 7-7 tie. Abby Gruber kept the Lynx in the match with a pair of big swings.

Brandon Valley went on a mini run, keyed by back-to-back aces from Gruber and a big kill by Jayaunna Stroh, taking a 12-8 lead and prompting a Huron timeout. The teams back-and-forth volleyball and after kills from Samantha Mangmoradeth and Dreyer, the score was again tied, at 14-all

From that point, through the end of the set, the score never got larger than two points for either team.

Knight got an aced and Dreyer recorded a block kill to forge Huron’s largest lead of the set, at 18-16. But kills by Gruber and Stroh knotted the score again before Mangmoradeth and Riya Sheley exchanged kill swings.

A Gruber ace gave the Lynx the lead, but a kill attempt sailed long for Brandon Valley. Sheley scored on a touch kill, but Jencie Goergen countered for the Tigers and when another Lynx swing sailed long, Huron led 22-21.

An ace by Aly Davis out of a Brandon Valley timeout put Huron up two, but the rally ended there for the Tigers, as Stroh had two aces and a kill, sandwiched around a kill by Logan Torgrude to end the set for the Lynx, 25-23.

“Momentum is everything, right?” Lien said after the match. “We had the momentum, but we just couldn’t find a way to put away those final two points we needed.”

Huron started with a clean slate in set two, quickly jumping out 4-1 on a kill by Chloe Carr and then a kill and an ace from Davis. Goergen surprised the Lynx with a quick-set kill, but Brandon responded with kills from Stroh and Gruber. Huron maintained its lead, however, as a Dreyer kill put Huron up 7-5.

A Stroh kill got the serve back for the Lynx and Stroh spent the next 14 points at the service line as the wheels began to wobble for the Tiger attack. After the 14-1 run, Huron found itself down 20-8, and the Lynx quickly closed out the 25-10 win.

Brandon Valley struggled in the early part of the third set, putting the first four kill attempt out of bounds. Davis collected an ace and Huron led 5-0. From that point, however, the Lynx went on an 11-1 run that established and 11-6 lead, with Stroh and Gruber doing the heavy lifting on offense and defense, as the size of the Brandon Valley team began to take a toll on the Huron offense, as the Tigers hitters faced a wall of defenders.

Huron rallied again, as a kill by Mangmoradeth, an ace from Hailey Rogers and two kills by Davis cut the margin to only three points, at 15-12. The Lynx responded, outscoring Huron 9-1 and putting themselves at match point, 24-13. Huron fought - Hylton Heinz recorded an ace, Knight got a kill, but a final service error sailed long and Brandon Valley recorded the 25-16 win.

“They old saying is ‘You’re as good as you pass,’” Lien said, “and in the second and third sets they just served us right out of the gym tonight. I give our girls credit, we tried some different people in to try to get a spark and everyone fought hard. It really shows that if you get the serve in, anything can happen.”

Gruber led all players with 13 kills and also had three aces, while Stroh had nine and four on the night. Sheley chipped in six kills for the Lynx.

Huron got six kills each from Davis and Dreyer and Davis added three aces. Heinz had three aces as well and Mangmoradeth had four kills in the match.

At the close of the match, the Brandon Valley players came to the Huron side of the court to comfort Aurora Dreyer, whose father passed away Wednesday, Lien said. “These girls all know each other and they knew Aurora’s dad. It was just very nice of them to let her know they are thinking of her.”

Huron returns to action on Nov. 14, in the SoDak 16, against a team yet to be confirmed, but Lien said it is likely that the Tigers will be somewhere in Sioux Falls, as a 14 seed in the tournament.