VOLLEYBALL

The HU volleyball team spent the weekend at the Manchester Invitational where they went 2-1 to improve to 6-4 on the year.

Against Spalding on Friday night at Stauffer-Wolfe Arena, the Foresters made quick work of the Eagles with a three-set win, 25-20, 25-23, 25-20. It’s Herber and crew’s second sweep of the season.

While the middle set was a battle back and forth, the other two sets proved all HU aside from a short-lived deficit to start each set. Morgan Robrock handed out 26 dimes and did a great job distributing the ball to make for a balanced attack that kept Spalding guessing.

Lindsay Ingenito paced HU with nine kills, Tya Bynum put down eight while Abby Robinson finished with seven. Defensively, Maddie Boomershine and Robinson led the charge with 15 and 14 digs respectively.

HU was back at it Saturday to pick up their second straight sweep, 25-20, 25-23, 25-20, over Manchester. Herber’s crew nearly doubled up their hosts in kills with 39 to the Spartans’ 20.

Robinson led the crusade with a game-leading 12 kills on 20 swings and only two errors for .500 hitting percentage in addition to posting 14 digs. Kourtney Grimm added eight kills while Anna Lewis and Ingenito put down seven and six respectively.

Robrock handed out 26 assists in the winning effort while Makailah Thompson finished with a match-high 14 digs.

In their final match of the weekend against UNOH, the Foresters came up short to suffer a four-set loss, 25-20, 12-25, 25-17, 25-13. Coached by former HU assistant Josh Kreiner, the Racers relied on a solid offense and gritty defense at the net and across the backline to slip past Herber’s squad. Herber and crew will have another shot at UNOH at the Indiana Tech Invitational next month.

Ingenito paced Huntington with ten kills. Bynum and De’Janea Johnson tallied seven kills apiece while Robinson collected six. Just like the previous two matches, Robrock dished out 26 assists. Thompson topped the match in digs with 21 to go along with three aces.

Overall, Coach Herber was pleased with what she saw this weekend. “Our goal was for this weekend to prepare us for conference play next week, and I believe it did that. While we got the sweep over Spalding on Friday, we didn’t our highest level of volleyball and we know that won’t cut it in conference play.

“We bounced back in our sweep over Manchester. We played good volleyball with a relaxed intensity. UNOH proved a large block that we struggled to be effective against, and we didn’t shut down their outside hitters.

“They played scrappy defense, and so we need to give credit where credit is due. As a team, we need to continue to develop consistency, limit the other team’s runs and make quick adjustments to put ourselves in the best position possible to win.”

HU returns to Platt Arena on Wednesday to host Taylor at 7:00 p.m.