HutchCC Sports Information
After three victories and going toe-to-toe with the second-ranked team in the nation, the Hutchinson Community College Volleyball team put together a tremendous run in the Midwest Superstore/Blue Dragon Volleyball Classic at the Sports Arena.
With victories over Frank Phillips College and No. 6 Indian Hills on Friday, Hutchinson dispatched Odessa College 25-16, 25-15, 24-26, 25-18 to start Saturday. The Blue Dragons then took No. 2-ranked Iowa Western to a fifth set in the final match of the Classic. The Reivers prevailed 22-25, 29-27, 14-25, 25-23, 15-10 as Hutchinson closed the Classic with a 3-1 record.
The five-set match against Iowa Western was the first five-setter for Hutchinson this season.
The Blue Dragons improve to 13-6 overall and will have a short turnaround before returning to Jayhawk West Play on Monday at Garden City in a 6:30 p.m. match. The Blue Dragons return to the Sports Arena to face No. 9 Seward County at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
IOWA WESTERN RECAP
Sophomore outside hitter Page Hiebert had an outstanding weekend and saved the best for last. Against Iowa Western, Hiebert tied Blue Dragon Hall of Famer Mariana Blum's single-match kills record with 28 terminations. Hiebert shattered Blum's single-match attack record with 89 swings against the Reivers. Blum had 70 attacks when she had 28 kills in an NJCAA Tournament match against Missouri State-West Plains in 2004. Hiebert had only four attack errors against Iowa Western.
Hiebert, who hit .270 against the Reivers, posted her third double-double of the Classic with 10 digs.
Freshman Leonie Wienkaemper finished with 12 kills on 31 swings and hit .290. Sophomore Nina Pevic had nine kills and sophomore Tatyana Ndekwe had eight kills
Sophomore setter Katie Jorn posted a career-high 52 set assists in the Iowa Western match. That tied for the 11th-most assists in team history. It's the first time since Melissa Gmur in 2008 that a Blue Dragon setter has posted a match of 50 or more assists.
Freshman libero led another inspired Blue Dragon back-row performance against one of the most powerful offensive lineups in the country with234digs, her third match of the Classic with 20 or more digs. Reed's 34 digs tied for the second most digs in single-match history with Samantha Lackey.
Sophomore Kelsey Mulligan produced a season-high 17 digs. Freshman Claira Creach added 16 digs. The Blue Dragons also had nine total blocks, led by Patricia Joseph's four total blocks.
Iowa Western had four players with 10 or more kills led by Raegan Moeller's 18 kills and seven from Yelizaveta Sharkova, who had five kills in the fifth set alone.
Hiebert started off hit with 11 kills in the first set. She had two kills in a key 4-0 run that broke open a one-point set and gave the Blue Dragons a21-16 lead. The Blue Dragons continued to side out well as Iowa Western had only four two-point runs in the set. The set ended on a Reiver service error.
The Blue Dragons had the Reivers on the ropes in the second set leading 23-18 after a Hiebert kill. But three kills by Makayla Doyle in a 6-2 IWCC run tied the set at 24. Iowa Western held off three Blue Dragon set points. Down 27-26, the Reivers scored the final three points of the set. Hutch had seven attack errors and three crucial service errors in the set. The second set featured six lead changes and nine ties.
The third set was all Hutchinson. The Dragons led 8-1 after Joseph hammered down an IWCC over-dig. Hiebert had five kills as the closest the Reivers got after the initial Hutch surge was five points. The Blue Dragons scored the final four points of the set to win 25-14.
The Blue Dragons trailed 11-5 early in the fourth set and was down 22-20. Hiebert, who had seven kills in the set, and Moeller traded kills throughout the latter stages of the set. Moeller had the final say with a kill on set point to force a fifth set.
Iowa Western had a big 6-1 run in the middle stages of the fifth set that opened leads of 9-5 and 12-6. The only Hutch point in that span was an Ndekwe/Pevic double block. Sharkova kept blasting away as the Dragons, who had only one two-point run in the fifth. Iowa Western had 13 kills to the Blue Dragons' four in the final set.
ODESSA RECAP
Before shattering her career high against Iowa Western, Hiebert tied it with 19 kills in a double-double performance against Odessa. Hiebert had 19 kills on 63 attacks with 12 digs and two aces to lead the Blue Dragons.
Jorn established a career high to that point in the day with 45 assists in the four-set match. Jorn also had a double-double with 11 digs and four kills.
Joseph had a career-high 12 kills on .625 hitting. Wienkaemper added nine kills on .529 hitting and Pevic added seven.
Reed had a team-high 22 digs. Mulligan had 18 digs and Creach had 11 digs. All three of those players, along with Hiebert had two ace serves each.
CLASSIC NOTES – In four matches, Page Hiebert had 81 kills and only 15 errors on 224 attacks for a hitting percentage of .295. … Katie Jorn averaged 11.25 set assists per set, totaling 180 for the Classic. Her lowest total was 39 assists in a three-set win over No. 6 Indian Hills. … Raychel Reed averaged 5.0 digs per set with 80 digs in 16 sets played this weekend.