VOLLEYBALL

The Huntington volleyball team made the long hike to Mount Vernon to take on the Cougars for the second time this season and battled to five sets before yielding to their hosts, 18-25, 25-19, 25-13, 22-25, 15-13, in Ariel Arena.

With this win, MVNU (5-6, 5-6) wraps up the regular season sweep after topping the Foresters 3-1 back on September 12.

The first two sets followed an eerily similar pattern – just with different winners. HU trailed by a point early in the first set but then took control to pick up the W. MVNU followed suit in set two, facing a short-lived deficit at the start of play but then grabbing the lead permanently on the way to their win.

Set three came and went pretty quickly in favor of Mount Vernon before a battle ensued. After trading the lead a handful of times in the fourth set, Huntington sat on top at 18-17 and then jumped on the back of Bynum who spearheaded a 5-1 run with three kills for a five-point cushion that they rode out for their second win of the night.

It set the stage for Huntington’s third five-set thriller of the season but unfortunately didn’t end as Herber and crew had hoped as they drop to 1-13 overall, 1-12 in league play.

“In my opinion, this is the most heartbreaking way to lose a match,” said Coach Herber. “I am proud of the way we fought back after losing sets two and three. However, not taking care of set two and allowing that lead to a slow start in set three was the game-changer for us.

“You can never take your foot off the gas against any team in this conference.”

Abby Robinson had a banner night by racking up a career-best 19 kills on 41 swings for a .293 hitting percentage. Brandy Michie also had a solid outing by chipping in a season-tying 12 kills while Tya Bynum put down ten. The trio accounted for nearly 70 percent of HU’s offensive output. As a team, the Foresters tallied 59 kills, just one short of Mount Vernon’s kill total.

Jennings Tacosik handed out 45 assists and collected nine digs. Ariene Butler was one of three Forester defenders to post double-digit digs. The senior libero finished with 20 while Hannah Maier and Same Gray added 12 and ten respectively.

“Mount Vernon did an excellent job reading our defense and attacking the open shot,” said Herber. “This presented a challenge for our middle back defenders to run the baseline all night.”

The Foresters, who faced Goshen on Friday, will square off the Maple Leafs again on Wednesday.