RIVERSIDE

After celebrating their seven seniors, filling the gymnasium with good tidings, Highland’s senior night took a turn in the wrong direction, as the Huskies dropped the first two sets to visiting conference opponent, Louisa-Muscatine. 

Up 2-0, the Falcons were in the driver’s seat to earn their first win of the season by playing senior night spoiler with a potential sweep.  

“I think going down that second set, it became kind of real for them.” Highland head coach Shannon Hills said about her team’s mindset going into the third set. “L-M has had a rough go. They’ve really turned the program around in the last year. I’m super impressed seeing them tonight, but we don’t want to be the first one.”

Keeping the brooms at bay, Highland won the next two sets to push their senior night contest to full sets, a common occurrence for the Huskies this season. Including this matchup, three of the last four Highland games have gone the distance.  

“I’m pretty sure they’re trying to give me a heart attack,” coach Hills said with a laugh about Highland’s knack for playing five set matches.  

Sending their home crowd into a frenzy by claiming the fifth set to complete the improbable comeback, Highland made sure to honor their seniors with a win, defeating the Falcons, 3-2 (19-25, 17-25. 25-15, 25-13, 15-8) on Sept. 12. 

“You come down from two losses and normally Highland’s thing is we just quit, but I couldn’t be more proud of them coming back,” coach Hills said. We’ve continuously done that all year, coming back and winning and never getting down on ourselves and staying down. They’re getting mad and I love it.”  

Not playing from behind and instead building up and maintaining large leads was the formula to Highland’s reverse sweep that raised their conference record to 3-0. For the Falcons this loss drops them to 0-6 and 0-3 in conference play.  

It was another stellar night serving the ball for senior Laney Skelton, finishing with a team high 36 assists. Pivotal in the comeback, Skelton’s command of the court came in handy for the Huskies. 

“Laney always steps out. That’s why we run a 5-1,” coach Hills said about her senior setter. “She sees the court better than anybody else out there. She knows the girls that are on the court as well. She knows who’s hot, who’s not and where to go and I think that really helps us.”

The bulk of Highland’s scoring came from sophomore Hailey Brun and junior Brena Hazelett. Brun led the team with 16 kills and Hazelett ended with 13. Both Brun and Hazelett are new to the varsity roster this season and they are showing early on how effective they can be on offense. 

Highland’s seven seniors honored before the game were: Lilly Barre, Katie Herrig, Hallie Hoppman, Adeline Krotz, Hailey Netser, Laney Skelton, Taylor Schnoebelen (manager). 

“This senior class is one of the best ones that we’ve come across. And I’ve had some pretty good seniors in the last few years,” coach Hills said. “These guys are just super positive and encouraging. You don’t find a group that works together any more than these girls do, they’re just great.” 

Highland 3, Lone Tree 2

Going on the road to capture a Southeast Iowa Super conference victory, Highland defeated Lone Tree, 3-2 (19-25, 25-13, 25-11, 22-25, 15-6) on Sept. 10. 

A raucous environment accompanied Lone Tree’s first home game of the season with each school’s student section bringing plenty of noise throughout the conference contest. Hyping up their home crowd even more, the Lady Lions won the first set by six points to take the lead. 

Regrouping after dropping the first set, Highland utilized quality serving and stout defense to win sets two and three while holding Lone Tree to 13 or less points in both sets. 

Now trailing Lone Tree fought back with a fourth set win to become even with Highland and push the game into a fifth and final set. 

Holding Lone Tree to six points, the final set went the way of the Huskies, marking their third straight win and improving their conference record to 2-0. For Lone Tree their record in conference play dropped to 0-2. 

With 21 aces on the night and five players with a serve efficiency of 80% or higher, Highland saw tremendous production in the serving department against Lone Tree. Adelines Krotz’s 100% serve efficiency (on 23 attempts) and eight aces led the team. 

Other stat leaders for Highland were Brena Hazelett in kills (13), Laney Skelton in assists (29), and Lilly Barre in digs (19). 

For Lone Tree they were led by seniors Avery Morarie in kills (7), Hayden Yoder in assists (20), and Alex Dautremont in digs (15). 

Wilton Tourney

Making an appearance in a tournament hosted by Wilton over the weekend, the Huskies battled against five other schools on Sept. 14. 

Overall, Highland went 2-3 in the Wilton tournament, defeating Mediapolis, 2-1 (21-13, 11-21, 16-14) and Prince of Peace, 2-0 (21-16, 21-9). 

Their losses came against Mount Pleasant, 0-2 (16-21, 10-21), Burlington, 0-2 (13-21, 20-22), and the host school Wilton, 0-2 (14-21, 5-21). 

Through the five games played Highland was led by Adeline Krotz in kills (19), Laney Skelton in assists (40), and Lilly Barre in digs (35). 

Up next for Highland (8-6) is a road matchup against conference opponent WACO (5-9) on Sept. 19.