HutchCC Sports Information

The direction the Jayhawk Conference title race will either become very clear or cloudy on Wednesday night at the Sports Arena.

Coming off a tremendous weekend and a Monday road win at Garden City, the Hutchinson Community College volleyball team (receiving votes in this week's NJCAA Division I Volleyball Rankings) takes on No. 6 Seward County at 6:30 p.m.

Hutchinson brings a 14-6 overall record into Wednesday's contest, but has built a 7-1 Jayhawk West record. The only loss was to Colby on September 16 in Colby. Seward County is 17-1 overall and 6-0 in the league. The Saints defeated Colby on the road on Saturday in three sets.

A Hutch win means the Blue Dragons, Saints and Trojans would all have one league loss and the race to the championship will be a wild one. A Seward County win puts the Saints in firm control of the league heading into the second half of the season.

Wednesday's match features the top three hitters in the Jayhawk West. Hutchinson sophomore Page Hiebert leads the league at 4.25 kills per set. Seward County's Giovanna Tapigliani is second at 3.50 kills per set and Viviana Viana is at 3.38 kills per set.

The Nos. 1 and 3 setters will be in action on Wednesday. Seward setter Giovanna Kuntze averages 10.64 assists per set. Hutchinson's Katie Jorn is at 7.86 assists per set.

Seward County has the Jayhawk West's top blocker in Luz Sierra, who averages 1.15 blocks per set.

Hutchinson libero Raychel Reed is fourth in the conference in digs with 4.27 per set.

As a team, the Blue Dragons are averaging 12.4 kills per set with a .263 hitting percentage. The Dragons average 15.1 digs, 1.9 blocks and 1.6 service aces per set.

Seward County is averaging 14.35 kills per set and is hitting .282 as a team. The Saints are averaging 17.55 digs, 2.32 blocks and 2.50 aces per set.

This is the first of two meetings between Hutchinson and Seward County. The rematch will be in Liberal on October 28 at the Greenhouse.