HutchCC Sports Information
After splitting the first two sets against Butler on Wednesday Night at the Sports Arena, the Hutchinson Community College volleyball team simply exploded.
After dropping a deuce set to the Grizzlies in the second that knotted the match at a set apiece, the Blue Dragons scored 50 of the matches final 67 points en route to a 25-10, 23-25, 25-8, 25-9 Jayhawk West victory.
Hutchinson improves to 8-4 overall and remained unbeaten in the Jayhawk West at 4-0 heading into Saturday's road showdown at Colby. Butler falls to 7-5 and 2-2 in conference play.
After handily winning the first set, thanks in part to 10 Grizzly attack errors, the Dragons trailed the second set by as many as five points. Butler played its best overall set and defeated the Dragons 25-23.
Hutch jumped out to a 6-2 lead in the third and never looked back. The Blue Dragons limited Butler to nine kills in the final two sets and shut out the Jayhawk West's No. 1 blocking team to no blocks in the third and fourth sets and only three in the match.
The Blue Dragons had five players with six or more kills led by sophomore Page Hiebert, who had 11 kills on .2-5 hitting. She didn't get her first kill until the eight rally of the second set.
Sophomore Patricia Joseph posted career highs of nine kills on .818 hitting. She also had four total blocks.
Sophomore McKenna Sullivan had a season-high nine kills on .272 hitting. Sophomore Nina Pevic had seven kills on .464 hitting and Tatyana Ndekwe finished with six kills on .357 hitting.
Sophomore setter Katie Jorn posted 30 or more assists for the third time in the last four matches with 32 assists. Freshman Payton Gawith had eight assists.
Freshman libero Raychel Reed finished with a match-high 18 digs. Freshman Claira Creach and Hiebert had nine digs each. Sophomore Kelsey Mulligan had eight digs.
Aliyah Bernard led the Grizzlies with 10 kills. The Grizzlies hit a negative percentage for the match with 24 total kills and 27 attack errors.
Tied at 6-all in the first set, a Joseph kill started a 6-0 Blue Dragon run that forced Butler's first timeout of the opening set. After back-to-back Hutch attack errors pulled the Grizzlies within 15-9, a Pevic kill sparked a set-clinching 10-1 run by the Dragons. Sullivan had four kills and two block assists to lead the Blue Dragons, who had nine kills and three total blocks in the set.
The second set was one of the Grizzlies able to take advantage of Blue Dragon mistakes. Hutchinson had seven attack errors and two missed serves and Bernard led the Grizzlies' best offensive set of the match. Butler took an early 5-2 lead. That margin eventually blossomed into a 16-11 lead after a Bernard kill. Hutch scored four straight and pulled within 16-15 after a Pevic kill. Hutch had four opportunities to tie the set over the next eight rallies, only to be turned away every time. Hutch finally tied the set at 23 on a double block by Sullivan and Joseph, but a Dragon service error and attack error gave the Grizzlies the set to tie match.
Tied at 2 in the third, Hutch ran off four-straight points to lead 6-2 after a Joseph kill. Leading 11-6, the Blue Dragons reeled off nine-straight points. Hiebert had two kills and a block assist in that run as Hutch built a 20-6 lead. Hutch out-hit Butler 13-6 in the third set. Joseph closed it out with a kill to give Hutchinson a 2-1 match lead.
The Blue Dragons scored the first six points of the fourth set. Hutch then led 8-2, 10-3 and 11-4 before going on a 7-0 run to lead 18-4. Hiebert had four kills and Sullivan had three and the Dragons limited Butler to three kills in the final set.
Hutchinson will play Colby at 2 p.m. on Saturday in the Colby Community Building.