Huntington Splits on Day Two of ONSET Invitational

FORT WAYNE, Ind. – In a five-set thriller (25-15, 22-25, 25-21, 23-25, 15-11), the Forester volleyball team battled their way to a win over Siena Heights to kick off day two of the Saint Francis-hosted ONSET Invitational at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum.

"Getting a fifth set win under our belts early in the season is a testament to this team's competitive edge," said Coach Kelsey Herber. "We improved our passing and coverage throughout the match, and it helped us pull it out in the end."

Since 2007 these two squads have matched up seven times with HU holding the slight 4-3 upper hand.

Offense was by committee for Herber's crew with Haley Kruse (14) and Tya Bynum (13) each logging double-digit kills while Kortney Grimm added nine and a pair of freshmen in Maisyn Robrock and Leah Carter put down eight and six respectively.

Another highlight for HU came behind the endline where the Foresters racked up 16 aces to SHU's three with Kruse posting seven of them. Morgan Robrock and Kendyll Gebert split setting duties to hand out 24 and 18 assists respectively. Robrock also collected 12 digs as one of three Foresters to make significant defensive contributions. Layla Meyer finished with a match-high 21 digs while Grimm dug up 16 balls.

In the fifth and decisive set, HU never trailed. A key to their success was committing only one hitting error while making bank on the Saints' five hitting blunders. They also took advantage of three SHU service errors while only committing one of their own.

Despite playing great volleyball against Mount Mercy to close out their time in Fort Wayne, the Foresters dropped a 3-1 decision to the Mustangs. At the time of this post, stats were not available.

"The last match of the day was a heartbreaker because we played our best volleyball of the season thus far," noted Herber. "Our girls had a new level of confidence ignited in them.

"We need to work on our tip coverage, passing and attacking against a big block. Tya Bynum and Maisyn Robrock were our standouts of the match. They were offensive weapons for us that could not be stopped."

HU hosts their own tri-match on Tuesday with the opening game at 11:00 a.m. against Concordia.

The Huntington University Foresters compete in 17 intercollegiate sports for men and women. In the past decade, Huntington has produced 125 NAIA All-America honors and 449 All-America Scholar Athlete honors. Huntington University is a comprehensive Christian college of the liberal arts offering graduate and undergraduate programs in more than 70 academic concentrations. U.S. News & World Reportranks Huntington among the best colleges in the Midwest.