Highland goes to wire against Wolves

WINFIELD ? The Winfield-Mt. Union and Highland volleyball teams went at it for five full sets on Tuesday night in an SEISC North Division showdown. The Huskies had leads of 1-0 and 2-1 in sets, but the Wolves rattled off two straight sets to take the win, 7-25, 25-23, 23-25, 25-22, 15-8.

The Huskies came out firing on all cylinders in the first set, and quickly had W-MU in a double-digit hole. Highland setter Jenna Dresselhaus spread the ball around well to hitters Sydney Black, Briana Davis, Bailey Harmston and Kelsey Hora, who each had 30 or more attack attempts on the night.

Highland finished the Wolves off quickly in the 25-7 first set, but W-MU was able to bounce back in the second. The Wolves held a slim lead for most of the set, and led for as much as five at one point, but the Huskies climbed back to tie the game, 23-23.

W-MU sophomore Lauren Jamison stepped up to serve in a big spot to finish off the second set, and she did so in style. Jamison scored on two serves in a row, the second of which caused trouble for the Huskies and fell in for an ace.

?We couldn?t play a whole lot worse than we played in the first set,? said W-MU head coach David Pieart about the team?s bounce back. ?It?s helpful at that point to have some of the senior leadership.?

W-MU continued to play on top for most of the third set, but Highland came storming back again, and put themselves in position to re-take the lead. With the set tied 20-20, the Huskies ran into some bad luck when a ball that looked to be going out for a Highland point hit the backboard of the basketball hoop, which forced the teams to replay the set.

The Huskies responded by scoring five of the next eight points to take set three 25-23. Dresselhaus ended the third set with a powerful kill in the middle of the floor.

Highland used the momentum from the third set to jump to a 10-5 lead early in the fourth, but the Wolves played some of their best volleyball to run past the Huskies and win the fourth set. Both crowds were at their loudest toward the end of the set, which seemed to fuel the Wolves to a 25-22 win.

?To be honest, we?re not usually quite that emotional,? said Pieart after the game. ?It helped us tonight. As we got better, we got emotional and the crowd helped us.?

W-MU continued to put the pressure on in the fifth set, and with the points winding down, the Wolves did enough to push themselves to the 15 points needed. Pearl Krieger-Coble nailed a spike to make the game 14-8, and a wide Huskie return on the next point finished the game off at 15-8.

The win puts the Wolves about .500 for the first time this season with a 12-11 record. They?ve won eight out of their last 10 games. L. Jamison and Krieger-Coble led the team in kills, with eight apiece. Caitlin Jamison had 25 assists, and Cassidy Lennie led with 32 digs.

Highland is still sitting well at 14-8 overall. The Huskies had three hitters with double-digit kills. Davis finished with 13, Black with 12 and Harmston with 10. Harmston also had an impressive 15 total blocks on the night. Hora led the team with 31 digs on the night. Dresselhaus finished with 29 digs and 29

assists.

Both teams will be playing at home on Thursday. The Huskies will host Wapello, while the Wolves take on SEISC tournament champion Mediapolis.