Seward Blanked in JeffCo Halloween Classic
KSCB News - October 26, 2015 12:31 pm
Going into the final week of the 2015 regular season, the Seward County Lady Saints hit a rough patch over the weekend, going 0-3 in the JeffCo Halloween Classic in Hillsboro, Missouri, dropping 3-2, 3-1, and 3-0 matches to #16 Illinois Central, #10 Missouri State-West Plains, and #17 Jefferson to drop their overall record to 22-14 on the season.
Following the over 12 hour one way trip to Hillsboro, the Lady Saints took on NJCAA Division II powerhouse Illinois Central in their first match of the weekend on Friday. Seward and Central played even early in the first, but a 7-2 midset run by the Cougars had them up 14-9. Eventually Seward battled back to tie the score at 22, but Central finished the set by scoring the final three points to take it 25-22. The Lady Saints got off to a dreadful start in the second, falling behind 9-1 and were never able to recover as they played Central even the rest of the way, but the Cougars came out on top 25-18 to go ahead 2-0. It looked like it was going to be a short day of work for the Lady Saints as Illinois Central jumped out to a 16-11 lead in the third as they looked to close, but Seward charged back with an 8-1 burst to take their first sustained lead of the day at 19-17. The Cougars tied the score twice late in the set, first at 21 and then at 23, but in the end, the Lady Saints outlasted them 26-24 to remain alive in the match. In the fourth, the two teams played even through the first 26 points of the set to find themselves deadlocked at 13. That’s when the Lady Saints stepped on the gas, scoring 12 of the final 15 points of the set to force a deciding fifth set with a 25-17 victory. The fifth began a back and forth affair to 4-4, but three straight Lady Saint attach errors allowed Central to take an 8-4 lead into the changeover. Seward cut the Cougar lead to three at 10-7 later on, but that was as close as they got as Central scored the final five points of the set to win 15-7 and take the match 3-2.
Seward’s offense had trouble ever getting on track in the loss as they managed just 49 kills in the five setter. Kaysie Paxton and Megan Sharratt each had 10 kills to lead the way for Seward while Jade Piper led the team with 25 assists and Kimberly Diaz had a team best 14 digs.
SEWARD COUNTY/#16 ILLINOIS CENTRAL BOX SCORE<http:
The Lady Saints road wouldn’t get any easier in their second match of the day as they took on the 10th ranked team in the country, the Missouri State-West Plains Grizzlies. Seward played the Grizzlies tough in the first, finding themselves tied at 14 midway through the period. The Lady Saints fell behind by two late at 23-21, but tied the score on back to back kills to make it 23-23. An Achilles Heel all year, the Lady Saints committed a service error on the next point to lose momentum and West Plains finished them off with a kill to take the set 25-23. As it was in the first, the second was tight early on as the teams played to a 13-13 tie at the midway point. That’s when a 6-0 Seward run pushed the Lady Saints out to a 19-13 lead and they never looked back, going on another burst to finish the set and take it 25-17 to even the match at one. They couldn’t carry the momentum into the all-important third set though as West Plains showed their power, blowing Seward out of the water early on, taking a 16-4 lead to begin the set. The Lady Saints never recovered from that, eventually falling 25-13 to find themselves in a 2-1 hole in the match. The Lady Saints weren’t ready to go home just yet though as they again battled the Grizzlies tough in the fourth. It was a 14-14 game when West Plains went on a 5-1 jolt to take a 19-15 lead to take control of the set and Seward never got closer than three as they failed to fight off elimination as the Grizzlies took the set 25-19 to win the match 3-1.
The Lady Saints had some success on the outside in the loss as both starting hitters, Alex Wood and Viviane Viana recorded double-doubles. Wood finished with 10 kills and a team best 16 digs for Seward while Viana led the Lady Saints with 11 kills and had 10 digs.
SEWARD COUNTY/#10 MISSOURI STATE-WEST PLAINS BOX SCORE<http:
Bright and early Saturday morning the Lady Saints took on the hottest team at the tournament, the host and #18 Jefferson Vikings. The Lady Saints forgot to set their alarm clock for the 9:00 start, finding themselves in an 11-4 hole before their snooze went off for the first set. Jefferson extended their lead to 20-7 before Seward finally showed some fight, getting back to within five later in the set before the Vikings put them away 25-19. It was nearly a repeat performance in the second as again the Vikings bolted out to an 11-4 lead on the Lady Saints. This time however, there was no Seward push back. Jefferson took a double digit lead at 20-10 before finishing the Lady Saints off 25-13 to go ahead 2-0 in the match. The Lady Saints committed eight errors in the first 11 points of the third set to again find themselves down big early 9-2. Seward managed to cut the Jefferson advantage back to four at the midway mark at 11-7, but the Vikings regained their footing and quickly cushioned their lead back to 20-13 later in the set. The Lady Saints played Jefferson even in the final 10 points, but that wasn’t enough as the Vikings took the third 25-18 to sweep the match 3-0.
As expected, the final numbers for the Lady Saints were not pretty in the loss as Seward had just one player, Maritza Mesa, with more than five kills in the match, hitting .098 as a team.
SEWARD COUNTY/#18 JEFFERSON BOX SCORE<http:
The 0-3 weekend marks the Lady Saints longest losing streak of the 2015 season as they fall to 22-14 overall. Their hectic schedule continues on Monday as they remain on the road in Concordia where they will jump back into Jayhawk West action with a 6:30 match against Cloud County with second place in the Jayhawk West on the line. The Lady Saints finally return home from their five plus day adventure on Thursday when they host Barton on Dig Pink Night in the Greenhouse for their 2015 regular season finale.
Roy Allen
