| BLUE DRAGON VOLLEYBALL |
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Hutchinson (19-8, 9-2 Jayhawk West) vs. Barton (13-11, 5-6) When: Wednesday, October 11 Where: Hutchinson Sports Arena First Serve: 6:30 p.m. Video: Blue Dragon Sports Network, 6:30 p.m. Twitter: @bluedragonsport |
HutchCC Sports Information
The Hutchinson Community College Volleyball Team looks to continue its strong defensive presence while re-kindling its offense on Wednesday when the rival Barton Cougars come to the Sports Arena for a 6:30 p.m. match on Wednesday.
The match will be videostreamed live on the Blue Dragon Sports Network beginning at 6:30 p.m.
A victory on Wednesday would clinch a Region VI Tournament opening-round matchup on October 31. It would also bring the 18-9 Blue Dragons to the brink of a sixth-straight 20-win season.
More importantly, Hutchinson would stay within striking distance of conference leading Seward County. The Dragons are 9-2 in conference play and trail the No. 5-ranked Saints by 1 1/2 games in the standings.
In Hutchinson's four-set victory at Butler on Monday, the Dragons tallied 12 total blocks and 76 digs against the Grizzlies. Sophomore Tatyana Ndekwe had six total blocks, while freshman libero Raychel Reed had 31 digs and sophomore defensive specialist Kelsey Mulligan added 16 digs.
That defense helped offset a Blue Dragon offense that hit only .176. For the season Hutchinson is hitting .244. The Dragons have hit less than .200 in 4 of their last 7 matches.
Barton has recovered nicely from a second-match losing streak in early September. The Cougars have won two in a row and 5 of their last 7 matches. One of those wins was a four-set victory at Colby last Wednesday. Barton had the weekend and Monday's round of conference matches off.
One of the losses during that losing streak came to Hutchinson on September 18 in Great Bend. The Blue Dragons out-hit the Cougars .257-.059. Page Hiebert had 16 kills on .424 hitting and Leonie Wienkaemper added nine kills on .562 hitting. Laine Conceicao had 10 kills to lead Barton, but hit only .030.
The Blue Dragons rank second in the Jayhawk West with a .244 hitting percentage. Defensively, Hutch is limiting opponents to .177 hitting.
Both teams are comparable in blocks – the Cougars average 2.04 blocks per set to Hutch's 2.03. Barton is averaging 17.46 digs per set to Hutchinson's 15.46 digs per set.