Hitting the road to compete in their first five set matchup of the season Highland’s talent was on full display, needing only three sets to subdue the Panthers. 

Traveling to Packwood the Huskies captured a 3-0 sweep of the Pekin Panthers with final scores of 25-14, 25-16, and 25-15 on August 31. 

Highland set the tone of the matchup early by winning the first set handily and they did this through their excellent defensive efforts and their superb serving. 

“I think we definitely did really well serving,” Highland volleyball coach Shannon Hills-Copeman said about how the Huskies played.

“Playing together as a team, for sure. We put some plays together as well. They’re starting to play well together, which is nice.”  

In addition to scoring points relatively quickly Highland’s powerful serving also kept the Panther’s offense at bay, with Pekin not being able to surpass 16 points in any of the three sets.

As a team the Huskies were able to rack up 11 service aces, with senior Sarah Burton and junior Adeline Krotz both leading the team with three apiece. Among the seven Huskies who served all but one had at least one service ace. 

The second set followed a familiar trend from the first set, Highland building up a sizable lead and not giving Pekin a chance to mount a realistic comeback by disrupting their offense with strong serves. 

Highland won each set by an average point differential of ten and this took a complete team effort. 

Everyone worked together to win in a comfortable fashion that allowed them to have fun on the court, with the Huskies constantly smiling and celebrating whenever a teammate made a great play, which was a frequent occurrence. 

“I highlight all of them,” coach Hills-Copeman said about which Huskies played well against Pekin. “I think they all played really well tonight. The girls on the bench, the girls on the court, they played all together. They’re one team.”  

In the third set once the Huskies went up 7-6, they never relinquished the lead. Cruising to a win in the third set they completed the sweep against the Panthers. 

In addition to her excellent serving, Burton led the Huskies in kills (5). Fellow senior, Payton Brun, had the second most kills on the team (4). 

Doing her part in helping her teammates get quality kills, junior Laney Skelton led the Huskies in assists (7). On defense Highland’s libero, junior Madison Beeson, collected the most digs on the team (16). 

Picking up this victory over Pekin in such an overwhelming manner will no doubt boost the confidence of Highland going forward but they know there are still elements to improve on. 

“There’s always something to work on. Staying down and low, covering our hitters, keeping ourselves up as well. Making sure that we don’t get down on ourselves if anything doesn’t go our way,” coach Hills-Copeman said. 

Highland (4-2) stayed home and battled Wapello (5-8) on September 5. Up next for the Huskies will be going on the road to face off against Winfield-Mt Union (4-5) on September 7. 

Then they will travel to Wilton this weekend to compete in a six-team tournament on September 9.