By STEVE CARPENTER - Hutchinson CC Sports Information
With one victory over nationally ranked Seward County in the bank, the Hutchinson Community College volleyball team on the ropes again Thursday night at the Sports Arena.
Up a set and with five set points in hand in the second, the Blue Dragons couldn't close out the Saints and ultimately dropped a four-set Jayhawk West battle in Hutchinson's final regular-season home match of 2021.
Seward County rallied to defeat Hutchinson 19-25, 26-24, 25-19, 25-21. The Blue Dragons fall to 17-8 overall and 10-5 in the Jayhawk West. No. 9 Seward County is now 16-4 overall and 11-1 in the league.
Hutchinson got off to a great start as Jenna Thorne, Shadee Briggs and Shelby Murrell combined for 11 kills and the Blue Dragons had three team blocks and two aces in a 25-20 first-set win. The Dragons also had a strong second set with 17 combined kills.
A Chloe Price kill, a Price ace and Taegan Larsen kill gave the Blue Dragons a 24-18 lead in the second set. Seward County turned the tables as that point by scoring the final eight points of the set to even the match and one set each.
From that point, the Saints got its Jayhawk Conference No. 1 offense cranked up and sided out at a 70-percent clip over the third and fourth sets. The combination of Ariana Arciniaga, Ana Brangioni, Seyun Park and Gabriella Badilla combined for 28 kills in the final two sets. The Blue Dragons combined for only 17 kills in sets 3 and 4.
The Blue Dragons were led by Thorne's 16 kills. She also had two solo blocks and 12 digs.
Larsen and Murrell had eight kills each. Kristina Head finished with six kills and 11 total digs. Briggs finished with six kills.
Price finished with 38 set assists, six block assists, eight digs, three kills and two aces. Libero Shelby Briggs finished with 23 digs.
Arciniaga had 16 kills to lead Seward County. Park had 14 kills, Badilla had 13 and Brangioni had nine kills.
The first set had four ties and a lead change in the first 23 rallies. The Saints led 9-7 when a Murrell kill, Seward double-hit violation and a Price kill gave the Dragons a 10-9 lead. With the Dragons leading 14-13, Briggs had a pair of aces in a six-point service run to lead 20-13. The Saints scored 7 of the next 9 points and the Dragon lead was cut to 22-20. The Dragons closed out the first set on consecutive kills by Thorne, Briggs and Murrell.
The Dragons called an early second-set timeout trailing 8-4, but turned the set around with a 7-1 run. Price's setter dump capped the run and gave the Dragons an 11-9 lead. Leading 16-14, Head and Price and two double blocks and Thorne two kills to up the Dragon lead to 20-14. Then Price had a kill and ace and Larsen had a kill to make it 24-18 Hutchinson. Arciniaga started the comeback with a kill and the Saints scored eight in a row to stun the Dragons in a 26-24 win, evening the match.
The Blue Dragons led the third set 19-17, but Seward County took a 2-1 lead in the match by scoring 8 of the final 9 points of the set.
The Dragons trailed 11-8, but scored five in a row in a Reeder service run to lead 12-11. After a head kill made it 14-13, the Saints scored four un a row to take the lead for good at 17-14. The Saints sided out 7 of 8 times down the stretch to keep the Dragons at arm's length.
Hutchinson travels to Butler on Monday for a 2 p.m. match at the Power Plant.