VOLLEYBALL

Up against two formidable opponents, the Huntington volleyball team wrapped up the Grand View Tournament with a pair of losses to move to 13-13 on the season. John Brown handed the Foresters a 3-1 decision, 25-11, 24-26, 25-20, 25-9, to kick off Saturday morning after which HU suffered its second four-set loss of the day to 24th-ranked Oklahoma City, 25-12, 25-19, 24-26, 25-16.

Against the Golden Eagles, set two highlighted the match as Herber’s crew did a 180 to bounce back from a lopsided first set. Paige Eakright cashed in on five of her ten kills in the second set to lead a Forester attack that finished with .441 hitting percentage. Unfortunately, it was all JBU after that as they set up camp on the lead for all but the first few plays of the fourth set.

“John Brown was in system most of the match while we were out of system almost the entire match,” said Coach Herber. “Therefore, we struggled to generate offense and stop their middle attackers.”

In addition to Eakright’s ten kills, offense came by way of Brandy Michie who also finished with ten kills and Tya Bynum who added eight. Jennings Tacosik dished out 35 assists. The backline was covered by Ariene Butler who topped the match with 18 digs while Nicole Flickinger and Eakright tallied 14 and ten respectively.

Oklahoma City (21-1) went undefeated on the weekend with their last win coming at the expense of Huntington. The Stars have given up just four sets in their last 20 matches with HU claiming one of them. It was the third set and featured 11 ties and five lead changes before the Foresters finally outlasted one of the nation’s best.

Herber’s crew recorded 11 blocks to OCU’s 9.5 with Bynum collecting three and Tacosik and Megan Horton registering two apiece. Tacosik handed out 31 assists while Butler posted match-high dig honors again with 19.

“In both our matches today, we struggled to start out strong,” said Herber. “However, I love the way we bounced back after a rough first set instead of rolling over.

“This tournament weekend was intended to challenge us and prepare us for the remainder of conference play. It did exactly that. We are leaving Iowa a better team than when we arrived.”

Huntington jumps back into league action Wednesday by hosting Taylor at 7:00 p.m.