VOLLEYBALL

The Huntington volleyball team picked up its first Crossroads League win Friday night at Gunden Gymnasium by outlasting Goshen (5-10, 0-3) in five sets, 25-22, 10-25, 25-23, 13-25, 15-11. The Foresters (7-6, 1-2) have won three of the four five-set matches they’ve played in this season.

The mark of a good team is the ability to bounce back from setbacks and tonight was a testament to that. Despite things going south for Herber’s crew not once but twice, in sets two and four, the Foresters may have bent but didn’t break.

“Tonight freshman Anna Lewis led our pre-match devotional and talked about learning from mistakes in the moment and then moving past them,” said Coach Herber. “That’s exactly what we had to do tonight.

“We had a couple of rough sets, but in the end, we were able to move forward to get our first conference win of the season.”

As Huntington has done all year, it was a team effort with every Forester doing her part and excelling at her craft. Paige Eakright, currently ranked second in the league in kills per set (3.7), posted a career best 25 kills to go along with ten digs for a double double.

Lindsay Ingenito was also an offensive threat having logged 12 kills on 24 swings with just one error for an impressive .458 hitting percentage. Jennings Tacosik did what she does best – orchestrating the offense by dishing out 43 dimes. She also tallied 12 digs, three kills and two aces.

HU had its best outing of the season at the net defensively by recording seven team blocks behind two apiece from Tya Bynum, Ingenito and Lewis. The backline was powered by Ariene Butler who collected a season-high 31 digs. Butler currently ranks fifth in the CL in digs per set (4.8).

After the ups and downs of the first four sets, the Foresters took charge of the fifth by racing out to a 5-1 advantage. The Maple Leafs fired back to knot things up at 8-8 but four straight points by the visitors set the stage for the HU win.

Brandy Michie cashed in on two kills during the spurt while a pair of blocks accounted for the other two points. Several plays later, Ingenito and Eakright wrapped things up with back-to-back kills for the last two points.

“The fifth set was my favorite,” said Herber. “The athletes exuded confidence, energy and fearlessness. Now we get to hit the road again tomorrow in pursuit of another conference win at Bethel.”

HU squares off with the Pilots tomorrow at 3:00 p.m.