VOLLEYBALL

The Huntington volleyball team got back on track Wednesday evening with a quality road win at Bethel that took five sets to decide, 25-22, 24-26, 21-25, 25-22, 15-10. The W snaps a four-game losing skid as the Foresters improve to 5-10 overall, 2-5 in league action.

The win also marks HU’s first conference road win and didn’t go unnoticed by Shondell. “Finding a win on the road in our league is like finding a needle in a truckload of hay stacks.”

Nearing the midway point of conference play, Huntington is tied for seventh with Taylor in the CL standings, just one game behind Bethel and Spring Arbor who currently share the fifth spot.

After tallying a first set win, the Foresters stared elimination in the face as the Pilots battled back to win the next two but the visitors dished it right back. Shondell’s gritty crew knotted things up with a fourth set win and then made it look easy once they reached ten points in the rubber match as they outscored Bethel 5-1 the rest of the way for their second five-set victory of the year.

Scrappy defense made it difficult for either team to score points but HU found its answer in Paige Eakright who finished with a career-tying 17 kills. Brandy Michie was also a force to be reckoned with by adding 15. Together the duo combined to more than half of their team’s 55 kills.

Shondell liked what he saw in the pair. “Paige did a really nice job of mixing up shots and keeping the ball in play and Brandy got hot early and remained a strong option all the way through.”

Eakright also left her mark on the defensive end of things by registering a career-best 18 digs for the double double. She was one of four Foresters to log double digit digs with Ariene Butler leading the way with 28 while Lanie McClanahan and Jo Rammel adding 11 and ten respectively.

“Our defense got the job done for us,” said Shondell. “Our block was better; we got a lot more touches and forced a lot of errors. That and our backcourt picking up digs by the dozen kept us in the ballgame.”

Huntington finished with six blocks and 86 digs.

The Foresters return to Platt Arena on Friday night to host Mount Vernon at 7:00 p.m.