Huskies close Keota Tournament with pair of wins

By Jeff Yoder
Posted 8/24/21

The Huskies rebounded from a loss to Mid-Prairie to defeat rival Lone Tree 25-20 and 25-21.

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Huskies close Keota Tournament with pair of wins

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The Huskies rebounded from a season-opening loss to Mid-Prairie to defeat  Lone Tree 25-20, 25-21, before adding a win over English Valleys in the third-place match. 

The first set with rival Lone Tree was tight throughout, and was tied at 19-19 before a strong finish by Highland. The Huskies led by a wide margin in the second set before Lone Tree pulled within two points at 21-19. But again, the Huskies came through in the clutch. 

“About halfway through (the second set) they started getting frustrated with each other,” Highland assistant coach Samantha Cox said. “That’s when Lone Tree started scoring more of those points again.

“We had a time out to talk to them, but basically, they talked to themselves for that time. And then they came back out and started talking together, and you could just tell they were jelling a little better.” 

After finishing second in pool play, the Huskies faced English Valleys for third place. The Bears made runs, but the Huskies were able to finish the day with a second straight sweep 25-21 and 25-17.

“They kind of got in their own heads,” head coach Gina Trower said. “And then they realized, this is what we need to do to pull through. Ultimately, you’ve got to have salt with the pepper and they just started to mesh better together.”

Sarah Burton had eight kills in each of Highland’s wins and led the Huskies with 22 for the day. Jalynn Brown also had eight kills in the win over Lone Tree and 14 over the three games. 

MyLei Smith had 21 assists and Grace Prybil had 19. Smith led the Huskies with four blocks, while Carsen Mellinger had five kills and three blocks.

Mackinze Hora had a team-high 36 digs on the day. Prybil was 9 for 9 serving to finish with a perfect serve percentage. Hora was 9 for 10 and Burton was 16 for 18. 

The Huskies will be back in action at Danville on Thursday, August 26.