Volleyball Drops CCS Opener At LaGrange

LAGRANGE, Ga.- Returning to the court for the first time since the Millsaps Invitational, Huntingdon Volleyball fell to 8-6 on the season, dropping their first CCS match of the season at LaGrange, 3-1. The Hawks claimed the first set, but the Panthers found a second wind in the second set, putting Huntingdon away with three consecutive set victories. 

As mentioned before, Huntingdon grabbed a 1-0 lead with a 25-22 opening set victory. The Hawks came out of the gates solid, picking up 15 kills to spearhead their winning effort. The teams traded blows in the early stages of the set, but a small run in favor of the Panthers gave LaGrange a 15-12 lead. The Hawks battled back however, with Lily VanDyke and Lindsey Holland leading a 6-0 run that put Huntingdon in front 20-17. Once in the lead, the Hawks never let it go, as Kinsley Martin's ace brought the set to a close and put Huntingdon in the lead. 

Not to be outdone, LaGrange stormed back to take the second set 25-19. Huntingdon saw their lowest amount of kills come in this set, recording just five to go along with a -0.56 hitting percentage in the set loss. As a result, the Panthers led from end-to-end, scoring back-to-back kills to close the set and even the match 1-1. 

The Panthers kept rolling in set 3, pulling away late in a highly-contested 27-25 battle. Both teams saw a substantial uptick in offensive production, with Huntingdon recording 17 kills and 4 errors, and LaGrange scoring 20 kills and 5 errors. With both teams playing high above the net, they interchanged the lead 3 times before the Panthers opened up a run to take an 18-11 advantage. Huntingdon continued to battle however, as the trio of Morgan Suggs, Lily VanDyke, and Lindsey Holland fought to even things at 24, and again at 25, before the Panthers cashed in on consecutive serves to take a 2-1 lead. 

A similar tale to the second set of the match, LaGrange utilized an opening 5-0 run to walk away with set four 25-17, claiming the match 3-1. Huntingdon's attacked secured more kills than that of the Panthers, but with LaGrange committing just two errors, Huntingdon couldn't answer, falling in their conference opener on the road. 

The Hawks look to bounce back on Saturday, September 27th, traveling to Agnes Scott for a CCS tri-match with the Scotties and Covenant College. Matches are set for 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM CT.