Saints Win Ninth Straight with 3-0 Win at Barton
KSCB News - September 29, 2015 12:39 pm
The Seward County Lady Saints remained red hot Wednesday night on the road in Great Bend, sweeping the Barton Cougars 3-0 to secure their ninth straight win.
It was an inauspicious start for the Lady Saints who had seven errors in the first 15 points of the first set to fall behind Barton big early 11-4. A pair of Cougar errors helped Seward get some momentum back and by the midway point of the set, the Lady Saints had the score tied at 13 after a kill from Viviane Viana and an ace from Megan Sharratt. Seward continued to push, getting a kill on the right side from Maritza Mesa and another Viana blast to make it 15-13 Lady Saints. Three straight aces from Jade Piper later in the set stretched Seward’s lead to 20-16 and a big block by Sharratt and Viana put them in control, up 21-16. Barton closed to three late, but the Lady Saints finished them off 25-20 to take the first and take a 1-0 lead in the match. Both teams struggled mightily in the first, Seward finishing the set with just seven kills and a .077 hitting percentage while Barton’s eight first set errors limited them to a .091 hitting mark.
Seward didn’t go the tough route in the second set, bolting out to a 12-5 lead as the Cougars struggled to get anything going. A pair of Lady Saint ball handling errors allowed the Cougars to close the gap, but a kill in the middle by Sharratt stretched the Lady Saints lead back to five at 15-10. Two more Barton miscues opened Seward’s lead to seven and the Lady Saints did the rest, getting another big block, this time from Belissa Guidotti and Alex Wood to spur an 11-2 run to close the set as they took it 25-12 to go up 2-0 in the match. Seward hit a much more efficient .292 in the set with 10 kills and just three errors while Barton went the other way, making eight hitting mistakes with just six kills to hit -.065.
Wood started the third set hot for the Lady Saints, reeling off three kills in four plays to stake Seward out to an 8-5 lead. Up 10-9 later on, the Lady Saints went cold though, watching the Cougars score five straight points to take their largest lead since early in the first set at 14-10. The Lady Saints looked like they might be in trouble in the third as Barton opened up a five point lead at 18-13, but back to back solo blocks from Kaysie Paxton and Mesa quickly cut the Cougar advantage to just three. A kill from Lindsey Schwab three points later got Seward to within one and a Barton attack long knotted the score up at 20. Another key block by the Lady Saints from Sharratt and Viana inched the Lady Saints ahead by one and they pounded Barton to the finish line, getting kills from Mesa and Viana before a stuff block from Sharratt and Paxton to close the Cougars out 25-21 to sweep the match 3-0. The third was easily the Lady Saints most offensive set as they finished off 15 kills to hit .370 in the period.
It was a relatively quiet numbers night for Seward as Sharratt, Wood, and Viana all tied for the team lead with seven kills. Piper led the Lady Saints with 18 assists in the win and had the three big aces in the first set to pace Seward at the service line. Starting her first match as the Lady Saints libero, Madison Hoelting played well, registering a match high 12 digs for Seward. The Lady Saints combined for nine blocks in the match led by four from Guidotti and three from Mesa and Sharratt.
Seward County wins their ninth straight match to improve to 16-7 on the year while wrapping up the first half of Jayhawk West play at 7-1. Barton is in a tailspin the other way, losing their 15th straight Wednesday to fall to 5-18 overall and 2-6 in West action.
The Lady Saints will be back at it on Wednesday in the Greenhouse when they will host the Colby Trojans in a key midseason matchup with first serve set for 6:30.
SEWARD COUNTY/BARTON BOX SCORE<http:
Roy Allen
