The Highland Huskies returned the favor to the Hillcrest Academy Raven volleyball team Thursday night. On the opening day of the season, the Ravens swept the Huskies in straight sets, last night in Kalona it was Highland who put their brooms to work, getting the win in Hillcrest Union 25-23, 27-25 and 25-20. High marks for the Huskies included Maddie Beeson with 22 digs. Laney Skelton and Sarah Burton had 11 each. Grace Prybil finished with 13 assists, Skelton added 11. Lorelei Lueck brought the power with 10 kills, Prybil added four aces and Burton had three blocks. After the match, Highland captains Payton Brun and Sarah Burton spoke with KCII sports about their view from the court and what worked for the Huskies to get the win. Brun said, “We played them earlier this year, but as a team we have grown a lot since then. After the first set we realized we had to stick together as a team and talk to one another. You almost don’t take a deep breath while the sets are going when it’s tight like that. So once you see the final point hit it’s like ‘all of your hard work paid off and you can breathe again’!”

Burton added, “It’s a relief knowing that we struggled in the beginning of the season but now we’re here. We’ve grown so much from last year to this year. It’s great knowing that we won tonight in three!”

Claire Withrow led the Hillcrest attack with 14 digs, Lydia Beachy had 13. Malia Yoder had a dozen kills and Kylee Statler 11. Erin Bontrager and Niva Helmuth each had three aces. With the win, Highland improves to 9-12. Hillcrest is now 6-11.