HutchCC Sports Information
TYLER, Texas – About the only thing the Hutchinson Community College volleyball team didn't do on Saturday at the TJC Invitational was win a match.
After starting the TJC Invitational with two victories over Monroe and Tyler on Friday, the Blue Dragons lost in four sets to Blinn College and then a five-set war with Navarro College on Saturday. Blinn has won 2 of the last 4 NJCAA national championships and Navarro was ranked No. 13 in the latest NJCAA Division I rankings.
Blinn defeated Hutchinson 16-25, 25-21 28-26, 25-23. The Blue Dragons then rallied from a set down to force a fifth set, but Navarro closed out a 22-25, 25-22, 25-23, 26-28, 15-11 victory over the Blue Dragons. Hutchinson played nine sets on Saturday. The six sets the Blue Dragons lost were by a combined total of 16 points.
The Blue Dragons fall to 17-8 overall and will return to Jayhawk West play on Wednesday against Cloud County at 6:30 p.m. in the Sports Arena. Saturday ends a stretch of 13 matches in 15 days for the Dragons.
BLINN RECAP
Sophomore Page Hiebert hit .319 with 17 kills and only two errors on 47 swings to lead the Blue Dragons against Blinn. Hiebert had her third-straight double-double of the tournament and sixth of the season with 10 digs.
Sophomore Tatyana Ndekwe had nine kills on .217 hitting. She added three block assists. Freshman Leonie Wienkaemper had six kills.
Sophomore setter Katie Jorn posted 38 assists with 12 digs and six kills on .333 hitting. It was Jorn's fourth double-double of the season.
Freshman Raychel Reed had 17 digs to lead the Dragons defensively. Sophomore Kelsey Mulligan and freshman Cassidy Crites had 10 digs each.
NAVARRO RECAP
The Blue Dragons had a season-high 15 blocks in a match that was nearly point-for-point with a high level of play.
Down 2-1, the Blue Dragons played one of their best offensive sets in a 28-26 victory. Hutch scored 23 points on kills in the set. Navarro scored 22 points on kills.
Hiebert posted the second-highest kill total with 26 kills. She tied Teresa Wade and Ludmila Amaral for the third-most kills in a single match in Blue Dragon history. Amaral was coached at Hutchinson by current Navarro head coach Ronda Shirley. Hiebert had nine digs and four total blocks.
Jorn broke the 50-assist plateau for the second time this season. She had 51 assists and her fifth double-double of the season with 10 digs.
Wienkaemper had 12 kills on .222 hitting for Hutchinson. Ndekwe finished with seven kills and seven total blocks.
Joseph had a team- and season-high eight total blocks. Crites finished with five total blocks. Reed finished with 16 digs and Mulligan had 10 digs.
The Blue Dragons were playing a five-set match for only the second time this season.