TIGERS TAKE DOWN STRUTHERS

BELOIT OH-

The Howland Tigers are a volleyball team that has defined a sort of scrappy play over the last few years. Featuring some seniors that have been mainstays on this tiger program the last couple of seasons, with names such as Courtney Clark and KyRenae Matlock. Howland is in an interesting boat, one that consists of a decent mix of the seasoned experienced veterans and girls getting their first taste of varsity volleyball. 

In their first matchup of a Saturday tri-match, The Tigers showed some of their areas of inexperience, as West Branch was able to come away with a straight set victory. But in the second matchup, directly following the first, Howland had seemed to have talked things over and figured out the issue. Grabbing firm control of the first set over a Sturthers team, defeating them by 8 points in Set 1. The Wildcats showed fight and grit as they battleted back and forth with Howland in Set 2, before grabbing two clutch points down the wire to slay The Tigers in Set 2 by a score of 25-23. Set 3 looked to be on the same trajectory as the previous set, with Struthers battling neck and neck with Howland, at one point grabbing another late lead on The Tigers. However, it was the seniors who showed their stripes and weathered the storm down the stretch, with their leadership being shown on full display. TIgers took Set 3 and the match victory to split the day 1-1 at West Branch. 

The next time Howland (3-1) will be in action is Monday, August 29th against The Hubbard Eagles (0-2). While Struthers (1-4) will go to Niles (1-2) to take on The Red Dragons on Tuesday, August 30th. 

Set Scores

S1: Howland 25 – 17 Struthers

S2: Howland 23 – 25 Struthers

S3: Howland 25 –19 Struthers

*Contributed By YSN’s Ty Bartell