Hardin-Simmons And St. Thomas Down The Hawks

MARSHALL, TEXAS- On the second and final day of the 2024 Tiger Invite hosted by East Texas Baptist University, Huntingdon volleyball(0-7 overall) was taken down by Hardin-Simmons(4-2 overall) 3-0 and the St. Thomas(TX). Celts, 3-1.

How it happened

Game one vs Hardin-Simmons

Hardin-Simmons got up early, 5-2, on the Hawks in the first set. Huntingdon battled back to even the score at 12, capitalizing on multiple errors from the Cowboys to draw closer, but dropped 8 of the last 10 points in the set to fall 25-18 and drop the opening set.

Capturing their momentum from the opening set, Hardin-Simmons opened up the second set with a 3-0 lead. Led by Ashlen Janowski and Aly Harris, the Hawks climbed back to even the score at 5, and even took a 9-7 lead off a kill from Lindsey Holland, but the Cowboys responded and tied the set at 12 before jumping out to a 7 point lead and eventually, a 25-15 second set victory.

Similar to the first two sets, Hardin-Simmons opened up an early 6-1 lead in the third set and never looked back, capitalizing off of four Huntingdon errors, while only committing one of their own to take the third set and the match 25-15.

Hawk Top Performers

• #18 Lindsey Holland- 7 kills, 5 digs
• #12 Ashlen Janowski- 6 kills, 5 digs, 1 ace

Game two vs St. Thomas

The Celts came out of the gates hot, taking a quick 10-2 lead over the Hawks en route to a 25-10 first set win. St. Thomas recorded 13 kills in the set and two kills, holding Huntingdon to 7 kills and generating points of the Hawks' 6 errors to start the match ahead 1-0.

Much like the first set of the match, the Celts opened an early 9-3 lead over Huntingdon to kick off the second set. Huntingdon responded to with a 4-1 run, driven by Morgan Suggs and Ashlen Janowski, to cut the lead to 10-7, but St. Thomas was able to close the set with four kills to take a 26-24 set victory.

Not to be outdone, Huntingdon claimed the third set by a score of 25-21. The Hawks, led by Izzy Valldeperas and Ashlen Janowski, found themselves holding a slight 9-8 lead midway through the set. After St. Thomas reclaimed the lead 17-15, Huntingdon stormed back to hold a 19-18 lead, courtesy of Alysa Bias and Izzy Valldeperas, and held their lead through the duration of the set to bring the match to 2-1.

To take the match, the Celts bounced back from their third set loss to win the fourth set 25-18. Taking advantage of a match-high 7 errors from Huntingdon, St. Thomas never relinquished their lead in the fourth set to take the win.

Hawk Top Performers

• #21 Izzy Valldeperas- 7 kills, 1 ace, 3 digs
• #18 Lindsey Holland- 8 kills, 6 digs

Huntingdon looks to bounce back on September 10th, where they take the court in Roland Arena for the first time this season in a matchup with MUW. Gametime is scheduled for 7:00 PM.