By STEVE CARPENTER - Hutchinson CC Sports Information
Three Hutchinson Community College volleyball players had double figures in kills and libero Shelby Reeder led a tremendous back-row effort as the Blue Dragons avenged an opening night loss to Garden City on Tuesday night at the Sports Arena.
The Blue Dragons defeated Garden City 25-8, 23-25, 25-13, 25-16 in a Jayhawk West rematch Tuesday night. The Blue Dragons have now won 10 off 11 matches and stay within striking distance of the top spot in the Jayhawk West. Hutchinson is now 16-6 overall and 9-3 in the Jayhawk West. Garden City falls to 8-10 and 4-4.
Hutchinson travels to Colby for a 6:30 p.m. match on Thursday night.
Thorne led the Blue Dragons with a match-high 18 kills. Kristina Head had 15 kills and Taegen Larson came off the bench to add 10 kills. Myracle Lettries had eight kills and setter Chloe Price had seven kills
Defensively, Reeder had her 11th match or 20 or more digs with a career-high 28 against the Busters. Price had 14 digs and Thorne had 10 digs.
Price posted her eighth double-double of the season and Thorne had her 14th double-double of the season. Price had 44 set assists and Thorne had a match-high three aces.
Alli Meng, Raegan Karlin and Touja Durham had seven kills each to lead Garden City.
The Blue Dragons wasted little time in winning the opening set. Back-to-back Lettries kills gave Hutch an early 8-1 lead. Then at 9-4, a Larsen kill started a 13-point Thorne service run. Four different Dragons had kills in the run. Larsen also ended the run with a kill and Hutchinson led 22-4. The Dragons tallied a season single-set high 20 kills in the opening set in a 25-8 victory.
The second set played out much differently than the first. Hutch held the early upper-hand, but a Dragon service error and Durham ace gave the Busters a 14-12 lead. Garden City led 17-14 before the Dragons reeled off four straight to take an 18-17 lead on a Larsen kill. Trailing 21-19, Head produced two kills and a solo block on three-consecutive rallies for a 22-21 Dragon lead. Down one, Thorne had a back-row kill to tie the set at 23, but the Blue Dragons had attack errors on the final two points of the set and Garden City knotted the match at 1-1 with a 25-23 win.
Hutchinson quickly regained its strong offensive play from the first set by building leads of 6-2, 11-3, 14-4 and 16-5 in the third set. Throne and Head had four kills each. A Thorne kill boosted the Hutch advantage to 21-9. Head finished the set with a kill for a 25-13 win. The Dragons have 15 kills to Garden City's five in the third set.
The fourth set had the same start to the second as Garden City game to live and led 9-3. But unlike the second set, the Blue Dragons were able to turn the tables on the Busters. Trailing 10-6, the Dragons scored four in a row, getting kills from Shadee Briggs and Price to tie the set at 10. Trailing 11-10, Head terminated on a perfectly ran slide to tie the set and spark Hutchinson to 10 unanswered points to claim control of the set. Thorne had two kills and a block assists. Briggs has back-to-back ace serves and when Head nailed another slide, the Dragons led 21-11. Hutch doubled up Garden City in kills in the fourth set, 14-7, finished off the Busters on the fourth match point with a Larsen kill.