Huron breezes into district final

ATTICA — Huron took care of business — quickly. The top-seeded Tigers blew out fifth-seeded Mansfield Christian 25-10, 25-12, 25-6 in a Division V district semifinal Tuesday at Seneca East High School. The Tigers are familiar with this stage of the state tournament and looked comfortable while winning their 15th straight match to improve to 21-3 on the season. "I thought the girls did a nice job," Huron coach Don Wood said. "They had some matchup advantages in places, and a lot of times high school kids have a hard time taking advantage of it. Our girls did. "That was a nice effort. I'm just happy to move on to the next match." Huron wasn't tested Tuesday, but that should change Thursday when the Tigers face Archbold in a 6 p.m. district final at Seneca East. The Tigers swept Archbold in last year's district final. "Regardless of who we play, we will have played somebody like them at some point during the season," Wood said. "That will give us a little bit of comfort going in because both teams are gonna attack really well. Looking forward to that challenge." Mansfield Christian, which finished the season with a 15-9 record and lost six of its last nine matches, provided little resistance. The Flames led 4-3 in the first on a kill by Cassidi Nelson before the Tigers turned on the jets. Huron ended the first set with a Mya Smith block and a Lizzie Perin roll shot. In Set 2, the Tigers jumped out to a 10-0 lead. Jada Foster topped off the run with a block, a kill, a tip and another block. "At practice we were focusing hard on blocking the ball and being lined up and not having holes in our block," Huron setter Reece Hotz said. Foster finished the match with a team-high 11 kills and six blocks. Huron's block was a weapon throughout the match. "The girls at the net set some good blocks," Wood said. "Thank goodness, because the speed of their hits and their rolls really had us off a little bit at the beginning of the match. It took us a little bit to get used to it." A Foster slam and Rylie Dehn ace clinched the second set. Huron didn't let up in the third, rolling to a 16-2 lead on an Adelyn Van Sickle ace. The Tigers, who are ranked No. 3 in the state in Division V, swept Clear Fork 25-5, 25-20, 25-12 last week in their tournament opener. That close second set seemed to keep them focused against Mansfield Christian. "Our last game we kind of let it slide, so this game we were trying to stay focused on what we can do and try to execute or best game," Hotz said. The match — which took only 54 minutes to complete — ended on Foster's last kill of the night and a Paige Johnson kill. Wood was pleased to see his team focused throughout the match. "That's a hard thing to battle. We did it (let down) in the last match," Wood said. "I was happy that the girls kept an edge to them and played every point as hard as they could. That shows respect for their opponent, too. I always emphasize that. You take points off, I don't think that's a very respectful thing to do." Van Sickle was 21-for-22 serving with four aces and had 16 digs. Jenna Cox had 10 digs. Hotz, who earlier in the day was named the Most Outstanding Performer in the Northern Ohio Conference Bay Division, had 25 assists and 10 digs. She had a wide array of hitters to set, including Smith (seven kills) and Riley Harkelroad (seven kills). "It's amazing," Hotz said. "Mya and Jada are awesome and Paige and Riley are so consistent and Liz just destroys the ball when you get it to her. They're just awesome to set."