PENDLETON–The Arabians took advantage of opponent errors early, weathered a storm, and took charge late as Pendleton Heights wrapped up their conference season in successful fashion.

Senior Brinkley Gary led three players in double figures with 12 kills and sophomore Aubree Dwiggins handed out 36 assists as the Arabians held off Greenfield-Central 25-17, 25-16, 23-25, 20-25, 15-7.

Pendleton Heights (15-14) close out the Hoosier Heritage Conference portion of their schedule at 2-5 while Greenfield-Central (17-10) finishes at 1-6 in the HHC. The loss also snapped a six-match winning streak for the Cougars.

The Arabians appeared to be in control of the match after winning the first two sets rather convincingly. But the Cougars, led by freshman Ava Antic, got their act together in the third.

“They (Cougars) weren’t passing well at all serve receive wise, in the first two sets,” PHHS coach Blair Barksdale said. “They picked up their play in the third and fourth sets and we made more errors.”

Antic was the most consistent Cougar with 20 kills on the night. No other Greenfield-Central player had more than nine.

The Arabians, on the other hand, had three hitters who were consistently on the attack all night. In addition to Gary, sophomores Gracie King and Averi Lanman had 12 and 11 kills, respectively with Lanman adding five blocks defensively.

PHHS started the fifth set with the serve and handed the ball to Dwiggins, which spelled bad news for the Cougars. Three of her first five serves went for aces and she assisted on two Gary kills that boosted the Arabians to a quick 5-0 advantage.

“Brinkley was a solid all around player tonight, defensively, passing, and attacking,” Barksdale said. “We struggled early with (Antic) with Brinkley, but we made an adjustment and she did a good job of defending on the outside.”

Dwiggins totaled eight aces on the night and had six digs to lead PHHS in both categories.

Greenfield-Central won the junior varsity match in three sets, 17-25, 25-22, 15-13. Sophomore Jordan Benefiel led the Arabians with nine kills and three aces and junior Brynn Teague had 18 assists.

The Arabians will play at Mississinewa Tuesday, October 3 in their next match before returning home to play Alexandria-Monroe the following evening. Gary and fellow senior Michelle Merryman will be honored prior to the that final home match of the season.