HutchCC Sports Information
The Hutchinson Community College Volleyball Team used a balanced offensive attack to sweep the Colby Trojans on Wednesday and remain alive in the Jayhawk West title chase.
The Blue Dragons avenged a September 16 loss to the Trojans after a 25-21, 25-20, 25-13 Jayhawk West victory at the Sports Arena. The Blue Dragons remain two games behind Seward County for the Jayhawk West lead. Both teams have two league matches remaining.
The Blue Dragons won their third match in a row and improved to 23-11 overall and 12-2 in the Jayhawk West. Colby falls to 24-8 and 10-4. Hutchinson will play host to Pratt at 6:30 p.m. on Friday at the Sports Arena.
Five different Blue Dragon players had at lead five kills led by sophomore Page Hiebert, who had eight kills on 44 attacks (.111 hitting percentage). Hiebert added 12 digs and a service ace.
Freshman Leonie Wienkaemper finished with seven kills on .286 hitting. Sophomore Nina Pevic had six kills on .333 hitting and sophomore Tatyana Ndekwe hit .417 on five kills. Ndekwe added four total blocks, including one solo block.
Freshman Cassidy Crites hit .600 with six kills. She had 14 assists and nine digs.
Sophomore Katie Jorn finished with 17 assists and nine digs. Freshman libero Raychel Reed led Hutchinson with 16 digs and sophomore Kelsey Mulligan added 13 digs.
Colby was led by Karissa Winkel, who had nine kills. Julie Archer added eight kills.
Leading 8-6 in the first set, Wienkaemper's kill started a run of five-unanswered points which ultimately became a 9-2 run. After an Ndekwe kill, the Blue Dragons led 17-8. Colby pulled within 19-5 and 24-21, but a Hiebert cross-court kill finished off the set for the Blue Dragons.
Colby started the second set with a 4-1 lead, but Hutch rallied to take a 7-6 lead after Wienkaemper won a joust at the net for a point. Brennah Gaston's kill gave Colby a 9-8 lead, but Crites terminated on the next rally to start a 5-1 Dragon run. Hutch led 12-9 after another Crites kill. Leading 14-12, the Dragons got a Colby ball handling error and a Pevic kill to force the Trojans to call timeout at 16-12. Hutch's lead grew to 21-14 after a Trojan attack error. Patricia Joseph's kill gave the Dragons a 23-16 lead. The Trojans scored four straight, but a Crites kill and Colby attack error helped Hutch take a 2-0 match lead after a 25-20 victory.
Colby scored the first point of the third set, but the Blue Dragons countered with six-consecutive points. An Ndekwe kill bumped the Dragon lead to 11-3 and another Colby attack error pushed the lead to 14-4. The lead was again at 10 when Ndekwe and Hiebert doubled up for a block. Colby had attack errors on the final two rallies of the set to close out the match.
BLUE DRAGON NOTES – Page Hiebert is close to two statistical milestones. She is four kills shy of the 800 career kills mark. She ranks fifth on the career list. She is at 497 career kills for the season, which are three away from becoming the fourth player with 500 kills in a season.