Hutchinson CC Sports Information
DODGE CITY – Freshman outside hitter Giovanna Monteiro hammered home a career-high 24 kills, including five in the decisive fifth set, to lead the Hutchinson Community College volleyball team to a come-from-behind five-set victory over No. 10 Dodge City on Wednesday night at the DC3 Student Events Center.
The Blue Dragons rallied for a 22-25, 25-18, 15-25, 15-10 victory over the Conquistadors.
Hutchinson knocked off a Top-10 NJCAA Ranked team for the first time since August 30, 2022 when the Blue Dragons defeated both No. 3 MSU-West Plains and No. 1 Iowa Western in the Reiver Classic in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
The Blue Dragons also set a team record by playing in their fourth-straight five-set match, which is the first time in program history to play four-straight five-set matches. The Dragons won 3 of the 4 five-setters.
Hutchinson is 2-5 against NJCAA-ranked opponents and 3-2 in five-set matches this season.
Monteiro surpassed the 20-kill mark in a match for the fifth time this season with 24 kills and only four attack errors. Monteiro had eight kills in the Blue Dragons' tight fourth-set victory and had five kills in the fifth set.
Four Blue Dragons reached double figures in kills.
Sophomore Lauren Vasquez had 16 kills. Freshman Julia Macedo had 13 kills and sophomore Mattie Galliher had a season-high 10 kills.
The Blue Dragon racked up a season-high 70 kills and hit .219 for the match. The Blue Dragons also had seven team blocks and seven service aces. Dodge City had 57 kills, 11 blocks and eight ace serves.
Freshman setter Klaudia Bilinksa had a season-high 58 assists, which tied for the fourth-most assists in single match history. Bilinksa tied Melissa Gmur, who had 58 assists against Northeastern Junior College on September 7, 2007. This was Bilinksa's third 50-plus assist match of the season.
Libero Clara Oliveira had 22 digs and Monteiro completed her 12th double-double of the season with 18 digs. Freshman Ashley Scott had 14 digs and a season-high three service aces.
SET 1: The Blue Dragons rallied back from a pair of 4-0 Dodge City runs that gave the Conquistadors a 17-9 lead. The Dragons answered with a 7-1 run that was capped with a Scott ace serve to cut the deficit to 18-16. Then trailing 22-17, a Monteiro/Bilinksa double block, Dodge City set error and a Bilinksa kill on a setter dump pulled the Dragons within 22-20. Dodge City got three key sideouts to win the set 25-22.
SET 2: Leading 11-10, the Dragons used a 4-1 run which was finished off by a Macedo kill for a 14-11 lead. Hutchinson never relinquished the team from that point. A Bilinksa kill gave the Dragons a 19-14 lead. A Monteiro kill capped a 6-1 run for a 23-15 lead. The Blue Dragons closed out the set when an Oliveira overpass fell for a kill to finish off a 25-18 win.
SET 3: A Galliher kill tied the third set at 10-10, but the remainder of the set was all Dodge City. Leading 14-12, the Conquistadors closed the set on an 11-3 run. The Conquistadors had 14 kills, five ace serves and two blocks in the set to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
SET 4: The Blue Dragons responded with an 8-3 run to open the fourth set. The Dragons had 19 total kills in the set – Monteiro had eight, Vasquez had 5 and Macedo had four. The Blue Dragons built a 10-point lead at 18-8, but Dodge City made things close with a 10-2 run to pull within 22-20. A Monteiro back-row kill and Arianna Delgado ace serve got the Dragons to set point at 24-20. Monteiro's kill down the line on set point gave the Dragons a 25-21 win and force a fifth set.
SET 5: Consecutive Monteiro kills on three-straight rallies gave the Dragons an early 6-3 lead. Dodge City closed to within one point twice at 6-5 and 7-6. A Vasquez kill and Oliveira ace serve pushed the lead to 9-6 and force a Dodge City timeout. Leading 9-7, Galliher had back-to-back kills to push the lead back to four. A Monteiro kill and Galliher ace serve gave the Dragons a 14-9 lead. Dodge City fought off one match point, but Monteiro completed the comeback with a kill down the line for a 15-10 win.