Huron tops Willard in five sets

WILLARD — Ashley Bond saw that look. It disturbed the Willard coach to see her team almost look defeated after winning a wild Set 3 over Huron on Thursday. The Crimson Flashes didn't keep up the level of play it needed after three sets. Huron bounced back to take a competitive 25-17, 15-25, 28-30, 25-14, 15-9 Sandusky Bay Conference Bay Division win. "We had just won Game 3," Bond said. "Why did we look like that? It was a whole different attitude in Game 4. I thought once Game 4 was over, we'd get it back in Game 5. "We fought, don't get me wrong. We didn't have that same killer instinct we had in Game 3. That was very surprising after that comeback, but that's volleyball." Instead of keeping the foot on the pedal, Willard (7-2, 1-1 SBC Bay) was outplayed the final two sets. The Tigers (6-1, 2-0) got off to a fast start in Set 4. Huron won points in bunches, never letting Willard get going in the set. Six straight points by the Tigers, capped on two kills and a block by Mya Smith, opened a 16-7 lead for Huron. What worked so well for the Crimson Flashes early was never evident in the fourth set and a kill from Addison Graham and net violation on Willard evened the match at two sets apiece. In Set 5, Huron led wire-to-wire. Ahead just 3-2, the Tigers strung the next seven points together to put a stranglehold on the set. Graham tallied two kills while a kill apiece from Jada Foster and Ava Trevino gave Huron a 10-2 advantage. Willard showed a little bit of life, getting within 11-7 after a kill from Camryn Weirs and error on the Tigers. But, that was the closest the Crimson Flashes would get. Kills from Foster and Smith, coupled with a Willard error, brought up match points. The Crimson Flashes faded two of the match points off kills from Leah Weiss, but a serving error into the net gave Huron the win. "We've conditioned for Game 5," Bond said. "We got in a serve receive and couldn't pass that ball. When we did pass the ball, we would make a hitting error. We were compounding it and we couldn't get out of that serve receive. "If we get out of that service receive after two or three points, it's a whole different game. We were down 10-2 in one rotation." Huron won the first set in similar fashion to the way it did the fourth set. The Tigers raced out to a 7-1 lead and were never threatened as Willard was slow out of the gate. Down 18-7 at one point, the Crimson Flashes cut within 20-16 after four straight points, but Huron scored the next four points. A kill from Jenna Cox put the Tigers up 1-0. "They're big and they're solid and we knew their block was solid," Bond said. "We knew our block was solid. We talked a lot about covering. We knew we were going to get blocked because they're big. "It was like we were trading. We'd block one and then they'd block one. The defense was there. It was a matter of not having the mental toughness at the end." Willard bounced back in Set 2. The Crimson Flashes played with more urgency not looking to go down 2-0. Willard only trailed once, but used four straight points to go up 9-6. Later, kills from Teagan Schaffer and Camryn Wiers made the advantage 18-13. The Crimson Flashes used a 10-2 run late in the set to even the match at a set apiece. A service ace from Schaffer tied it up. Both teams had chances to win a crucial Set 3. Late in the set, Huron went up 24-23 after a kill by Jenna Cox. Willard responded and evened the set off of a Tigers error. The Crimson Flashes had set points at 25-24, 26-25 and 27-26, but couldn't covert. Huron had another set point up 28-27, but didn't cash in. Tied at 28, a violation on the Tigers gave Willard a fourth set point. The Crimson Flashes took advantage as a massive block from Paige Adams gave Willard a 2-1 lead. "I definitely thought going into Game 4 with them getting yelled at and we're excited, we were going to take it," Bond said. "It was the little things. It wasn't anything major. If we clean up those little things, we change that." Weirs finished with 15 digs and 12 kills while Natalie Slone had 25 digs and 12 kills for Willard. Leah Weiss had 18 digs, 10 kills and four blocks, Emelia Tallman tallied 21 assists, Mya Stephens registered 13 assists, Schaffer recorded nine digs, five kills and five blocks and Alexis Rettig added nine digs. The two teams will rematch Sept. 30 in Huron. "What we told them is every game they have to take one game at a time," Bond said. "You can't say you're excited to play Huron again because if they don't take it one game at a time, that Huron match means absolutely nothing going into it."