Experienced Dragons Power Past Seward
KSCB News - September 2, 2015 12:23 pm
It was a matchup between the most experienced team in the Jayhawk West in Hutchinson and the most inexperienced team in the league in Seward County Tuesday night in the Hutchinson’s Sports Arena. The Lady Saints inexperience showed as Hutch blew the doors off Seward 25-8 in the first and took a 25-19 decision in the second to take a quick 2-0 lead in the match but Seward battled back to extend the match in the third 25-19 before the Jayhawk West favorite Dragons finished them off 25-12 in the fourth to take the match 3-1.
The highly anticipated match didn’t start the prettiest for the two sides as Hutchinson served the initial ball of the match into the net and Seward returned the favor with a serve long to make it 1-1 in the first. Hutch locked things in from there and Seward struggled to do the same as the first set continued. The Dragons raced out to an 8-2 lead and then rolled off five more in a row to blow their lead open to 13-2. It didn’t get any prettier from there as Hutchinson took a 15 point lead at 19-4 before finally putting the Lady Saints out of their misery 25-8 to take a 1-0 lead in the match. As the score indicated, the stat sheet wasn’t pretty for the Lady Saints in the first. Seward managed just two kills while committing eight hitting errors in the set for an overall hitting percentage of -.300.
The second didn’t start much better for the Lady Saints who found themselves in another big hole, 10-4 right off the bat. Seward crept back in midway through the period, but Hutchinson pushed their lead back to six later on at 20-14. The Lady Saints had a chance to make things interesting late, but an attack wide gave Hutch a 25-19 win to go in front 2-0 in the match. While their offense was better, errors still hurt the Lady Saints attack in the second as they hit just .143 on 28 swings.
With their backs to the wall, Seward finally showed some fight in the third set. The Lady Saints took their first lead of the match early in the set and played even with the Dragons to the midway point at 12-12. Still tied at 16 later on, Seward made a push and led 22-20 as they tried to keep the match going. In the end, Seward held off the Dragons 25-21 to take the first set of the year off of Hutch to remain alive in the match. The Lady Saints offense was more efficient in the set win, finishing off 10 kills, good for a .194 hitting percentage.
It looked like the Lady Saints might be in store for another comeback bid early in the fourth as they played the Dragons even through the first 10 points, but Hutch would have none of that on this night. The Dragons shifted gears and raced out in front of Seward, taking a 14-8 and then 19-9 lead on the Lady Saints. Eventually Hutchinson put the final touches on the win, taking the set 25-12 to win the match 3-1. Once again, the Lady Saints offense was limited to just a .143 hitting percentage with eight kills and four errors in the set while Hutchinson hit .455 with 11 kills and just one error.
The final numbers weren’t great for the Lady Saints in the defeat as they hit just .084 as a team in the match, committing 21 hitting errors in the process. Alex Wood led Seward with nine kills and also had a team high 12 digs in the loss. Seward had 12 service errors and eight reception errors in the loss while managing just three total blocks as a team.
Seward falls for the first time in Jayhawk West play, dropping to 2-4 overall and 1-1 in league action. Hutchinson remains perfect at 5-0 and wins their Jayhawk opener to start the year 1-0.
Next up for the Lady Saints is a long trip to Prescott, Arizona over the weekend where they will take part in Yavapai’s Roughrider Invitational. There the Lady Saints will take on South Mountain, Yavapai, Central Arizona, and Lee on Friday and Saturday.
SEWARD COUNTY/#20 HUTCHINSON BOX SCORE<http:
Roy Allen
