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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

HELENA – The Helena Huskies are rolling into area play off a pair of wins over county opponents after they beat the Oak Mountain Eagles and Briarwood Christian Lions.

Helena defeated Class 7A Oak Mountain 3-1 on Tuesday, Sept. 3 before beating Briarwood 3-1 on Thursday, Sept. 5 in a pair of home matches at Helena High School.

Before they went on to defeat the Eagles, the Huskies had to overcome a fast start from the visitors.

Oak Mountain took early control of the match and established a comfortable lead, eventually taking a 25-14 win in the first set to go up 1-0.

Helena made the second set much closer and fought until the end in hopes of evening up the match and claiming the momentum.

While the Huskies sat on set point, the Eagles lurked just one point behind and threatened to force extra points. Helena saw out the victory to tie up the match at 1-1 thanks to a 25-23 second-set win.

From there, the Huskies used that positive momentum to go on a lengthy run of their own and pull away from Oak Mountain.

Helena used that extra distance from the lead to see out a 25-12 win in the third set, and more importantly, take the 2-1 lead in the match.

The Eagles fought back and came close to denying the Huskies a win in the fourth set. The two team were tied at 24-24 going into extra points, but Helena withstood the threat from Oak Mountain to finish the job.

The Huskies won both extra points to take the fourth set 26-24 and secure the match win.

Two days later, Helena was back in action against former area foe Briarwood less than a week before the start of area play for both teams.

Just like the match on Tuesday, the Huskies had to battle back from an early deficit after the Lions won the first set 25-21.

However, Helena responded and flipped the script in the second set to tie up the match.

The Huskies held off Briarwood for a 25-19 second-set win, one that ultimately propelled them to victory.

Helena once again took control in the third set, and it ended the exact same way as the previous one. The second-straight 25-19 win put the Huskies just one set away from their second victory of the week.

The Lions made the fourth set closer than the others as they battled to try and extend the match. Helena held strong in the end and won the set 25-21 to earn another 3-1 match win.

Despite the loss, Briarwood’s Mia Wilson had 39 assists, eight digs and two aces. Leighton Hendley earned 13 kills, nine digs and four aces, Clara Crawford got nine kills, six digs, four blocks and two aces and Julie Roberts secured 12 digs and 11 kills.

Helena will kick off area play on Tuesday, Sept. 10 on the road at Spain Park at 6 p.m. As for Briarwood, it will start area play one day earlier on Monday, Sept. 9 at Central-Clay.