By STEVE CARPENTER - Hutchinson CC Sports Information
The Hutchinson Community College volleyball team served aggressively and extended their winning streak to six on Tuesday night at the Sports Arena.
The Blue Dragons had a season high with 14 aces in a 3-1 Jayhawk West victory (25-13, 25-9, 18-25, 25-16) over the Colby Trojans at the Sports Arena.
Hutchinson improved to 12-5 overall and 5-2 in the Jayhawk West. The Blue Dragons play host to Garden City on Thursday and will be at Seward County on Sunday. Colby falls to 4-3 and 2-2 in the KJCCC.
Hutchinson's previous high for service aces was 13, done twice against Trinidad State and Dodge City. Sophomore Chloe Price tied a career high with five aces. Freshman Shelby Reeder had three aces. Freshmen Shadee Briggs and Kristina Head had two aces each. Hutchinson had six kills in the second set and seven in the fourth set.
Offensively, Price set a balanced match with four Blue Dragons having eight or more kills in the match. Price finished with 38 assists.
Sophomore Jenna Thorne led all players with 16 kills. She added five digs and three block assists to lead the Blue Dragons.
Head finished with nine kills while Briggs and freshman Shelby Murrell had eight kills each. Murrell added five blocks, including a solo stuff for the Blue Dragons.
Freshman libero Shelby Reeder had 18 digs and Briggs had nine digs.
Claire Choloux had seven kills and Macarena Ruiz had six kills to lead the Trojans.
A Thorne-Head double block gave the Blue Dragons a 12-6 lead in the opening set, but Colby ripped off five-straight to pull within 12-11. Head and a kill and an ace and Murell added a solo block to stretch the lead to 15-11. That started a 13-2 Blue Dragon run that was closed out by a Taegen Larsen kill.
The Blue Dragons held an opponent to single digits in a set for the six time this season. The Blue Dragons held Colby to four kills in the set second. Leading 7-4, Reeder had two aces in a six-point service run that increased the Hutchison lead to 13-4. Leading 18-8 owned seven of the final eight rallies off the set, getting a Thorne kill on set point for a 2-1 lead.
Leading the Blue Dragons 4-3 in the third, Colby had its longest scoring run of the match, scoring five in a row to lead 9-3 after a Kasandra Lerma kill. Neither team had more than a two-point run for the remainder of the set. A Thorne kill cut the Colby lead to 16-13, but the Trojans took charge of the set again with four unanswered points to lead 20-13.
The fourth set was tied at 7-all after an Olivia Navarro ace. Leading 9-8, the Blue Dragons took charge of the set with a 9-2 run. Two Briggs aces, another from Reeder and a pair of Thorne kills opened up an 18-11 lead. Then leading 21-17, the Blue Dragons finished off the set with the final four points of the match. The match ended on a service ace – Hutchinson's 14th of the match – by Kersti Nelson.