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Washington Evening Journal
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Highland volleyball sweeps Pekin
Huskies win first conference match, move to 4-2 on the season
PACKWOOD — Highland and Pekin showed down on the volleyball court on Thursday night to kick off Southeast Iowa Super Conference North Division play.
It was the Huskies’ night as the road team battled to win three-straight sets. Highland toppled Pekin 25-14, 25-16, 25-15.
“I think we just stayed together as a team,” said senior Sarah Burton, who led the team with five kills. “We got down a little bit in the first and second set in the beginning, and we just knew we had to come back.”
Indeed, each of the first two sets saw Pekin play well in the early sets, but it was Highland’s service advantage that helped the Huskies pull out each one.
Highland finished the night with 11 aces. Burton and Adeline Krotz had three aces each, and Courtney Chalupa finished with two.
“Our serving has been our number one for a while,” said Highland head coach Shannon Copeman. “And we ran some nice plays out there as well.”
Payton Brun had four kills on the night. Laney Skelton and Krotz each had two. Skelton led the team with seven assists, and Madison Beeson paced the defense with 16 digs.
“The defense is a lot better this year than it has been in the past,” Beason said. “We're just improving a lot.”
Pekin’s Myah Bainbrdige and Ava Gillam each tallied three kills. Kayse Miller and Katelyn Schultz had two apiece. Bainbridge dished out nine assists, and Alex Parsons led the defense with nine digs.
Pekin head coach Jordan Mohs talked after the game about her team needing to stay strong later in sets.
“It's kind of the story of our season,” Mohs said. “We start out super strong, high energy, and somewhere along the lines, we just fall really flat. It's just something we're going to have to work on, to get over that hump.”
Highland moved to 4-2 on the season and 1-0 in SEISC North play. Pekin is 0-5 and 0-1.
