Huron opens with 5-set win against Columbian

HURON — It was Huron's volleyball season opener Thursday, but the Tigers' match against Tiffin Columbian had the feel of a district final. Huron responded to the challenge and won in five sets in a match that featured two of the best teams in the Sandusky Bay Conference. The Tigers dropped the first set before fighting off a couple set points in the second to win 20-25, 26-24, 25-23, 22-25, 15-11. "I knew we were opening against some great competition," Huron coach Don Wood said. "Tiffin's one of the better teams in northern Ohio. It was good for our kids to grow up a little bit. We're still young and have some learning to do. Heckuva great night to start the season." Huron got contributions from nearly every position on the court. The Tigers needed that to offset a powerful performance by Columbian senior hitter Kaela Jenkins, who will play collegiately at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix after originally committing to Wake Forest. "She's awesome, and it's not just because of her power," Wood said. "She hits that slide and hits it very hard, but she is so smart and sees the court so well. It's amazing." Jenkins unofficially finished with 30 kills, including 12 in the second set. But the second set was where the Tigers turned the tide. Three straight Jenna Cox aces gave Huron a 22-21 lead, but Columbian scored the next three points. Two kills by senior Addison Graham and two more from sophomore Jada Foster rallied Huron to a 1-1 tie. "I told myself that I was gonna give it my all," Graham said. "It's my senior year. Play every point like it's my last and just go for it. "We have really good team chemistry and we worked really hard this summer on ball control and staying disciplined. I feel like that showed tonight." Huron won the third set 25-23, taking a 2-1 lead on a Foster rocket in the middle off a Reece Hotz set. The Tornadoes (2-2) won the fourth 25-22 to set the stage for a fifth set in a match that lasted more than two hours in a hot gym. There were several stoppages to mop moisture off the court. "The momentum swings we had at different times were wearing on my heart," Wood said. "Discipline at the right times in the match helped win it, but lack of discipline at other times put us in a bad situation. It's great playing a team like Tiffin. They're gonna put you in a bad situation one way or another. It was good to see how we reacted to it." Huron senior Maggie Orzech, playing despite sustaining a serious knee injury this summer, served seven straight points to give the Tigers a 7-3 lead in the fifth. The run included two Orzech aces. Huron increased its lead to 13-7 on a Adelyn Van Sickle ace and a TC error. With Jenkins serving, TC scored four straight to make it 13-11. It was the Tornadoes' third match in four nights. A winner on a tip by Huron's Paige Johnson and a well-placed tip by Graham finished the match and Huron had plenty of energy left for a celebration. "I saw an open spot on the court and went with it," Graham said. Foster finished with 14 loud kills on 34-for-35 hitting. Smith added 11 kills while Johnson had eight and Graham added seven. "Everybody did something great at different times," Wood said. "My hitters are so different, between Jada and Mya and the outsides Paige and Addison — they gotta get kills in different ways. "Mya had the unfortunate matchup of having Kaela (Jenkins) in front of her in two of three of her rotations, Jada only one. We took advantage of that when Jada didn't have her there. Jada really did a nice job and Mya did the best she could against that girl." Hotz finished with 38 assists and led the Tigers with 20 digs. Cox had 19 digs. Van Sickle finished with 14 and late-summer move-in Taylor Wlodarsky contributed 13. Huron faces another stern test on Saturday when the Tigers travel to Chardon to face Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin. "They swept us last year," Wood said. "I'd like to make this one much more competitive. If we learned from tonight, I think we're capable."