By STEVE CARPENTER - Hutchinson CC Sports Information
INDEPENDENCE – The Hutchinson Community College volleyball team overcame a third-set stumble, dominating Independence in sets 1, 2 and 4 to even its Jayhawk Conference record at 2-2 on Thursday night.
The Blue Dragons started a five-match-in-three-day stretch with a 25-8, 25-17, 20-25, 25-12 Jayhawk West victory over Independence at the ICC Fieldhouse.
Hutchinson improves to 4-3 overall and is now 2-2 in conference play. The Blue Dragons head directly to West Plains, Missouri for four matches this weekend in the Grizzly Invitational. The Blue Dragons play Trinity Valley at 10 a.m. and West Plains at 5:30 p.m. on Friday. Hutchinson plays Jefferson College at 12:30 and New Mexico Military at 3 p.m. on Saturday at the West Plains Civic Center.
Freshman Shadee Briggs led a balanced offensive attack for the Blue Dragons with 12 kills and seven digs. Six different Blue Dragons had at least five kills against the Pirates.
Sophomore Jenna Thorne posted her fourth double-double of the season with 10 kills and 10 digs. Freshman Kristina Head had all six of her kills in the third and fourth sets. Sophomore Myracle Lettries had a huge fourth se to finish sixth six kills. Freshmen Shelby Murrell and Sequoia Fail had five kills each.
The Blue Dragons out-hit Independence 53-30 in kills and .268-.047 in attack percentage.
For the first time this season Hutchinson ran a 6-2 offense. Sophomore setter Chloe Price finished with 22 assists and freshman Kersti Nelson had 12 assists.
The Blue Dragons out-blocked Independence 7-2. Fail had a solo and two block assists. The Dragons had eight service aces to Indy's two. Freshman libero Shelby Reeder had three aces and a match-high 18 digs.
Amelia Mausby had eight kills and Jordan Carter had seven kills to lead the Pirates.
The Blue Dragons were a perfect 8 for 8 in sideout situated in a dominant first set. Hutch had 15 kills to Indy's three. The Pirates had seven attack errors. Leading 6-3, Hutch reeled off eight consecutive points to take a 14-3 after a Kenna Lane kill. The lead reached 18-5 on an Emily Dyer ace and was 14-7 after a Thorne kill.
Back-to-back back-row kills from Thorne helped the Blue Dragons open up the second set by capping a 5-0 to lead 11-5. Both Thorne and Briggs had five kills each in the set. A Briggs' kill and setter dump by Price gave the Dragons an 18-9 lead. Thorne finished off the set with another back-row kill.
The third set saw Hutchinson's overall passing game drop in efficiency as the Pirates racked up all four of their service aces in the third set. The Dragons trailed 9-6 and got the set tied at 15 on Murrell's third kills in a stretched of five rallies. The Pirates then scored three in a row and finished off Hutch with a 9-4 run.
Lettries started her big third set with a pair of kills in an initial 6-2 run. Leading 7-4, head got a roll shot to fall to start a 6-0 run and a 13-4 lead. Leading 17-10, Briggs had an ace and Lettries had two kills and a block assists to help the Dragons build a 23-11 lead. The match ended on Independence's 24th attack error.