Hutchinson CC Sports Information
GREAT BEND – The Hutchinson Community College volleyball team suffered one its most painful losses this season, not only letting a 2-0 match lead slip away, but an 8-3 lead in the fifth set to the Barton Cougars.
The Blue Dragons struggled down the stretch and dropped a 17-25, 20-25, 25-19, 25-19, 17-15 Jayhawk West decision to the Cougars.
The Dragons fall to 16-15 overall and 10-5 in the Jayhawk. Barton improves to 19-14 overall and 9-5 in the Jayhawk West. The Cougars earned a season split with the Blue Dragons. Hutchinson's final regular-season match will be Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. against Independence at the Sports Arena. Barton has two West matches remaining.
The Blue Dragons didn't light things up offensively in the first two sets, but Hutch out-hit the Cougars .111-.027. Things turned around in the final three sets hitting only .075 with just two blocks after five in the first two sets. Barton's attack percentage improved to .256 and had eight blocks.
The Blue Dragons had the early momentum in the fifth set in building an 8-3 lead prompting a Barton timeout. The Dragons had an overpass to go up 9-3, but misfired on the attack and Barton reeled off five-straight points to tie the set at 8-all. Cassidy Crites gave Hutch a 9-8 lead on a kill, but the Dragons found themselves down 13-10.
A kill by Eden Hiebert saved the first match point against and Delilah Vigil snuffed out a second. But the Blue Dragons committed a service error and attack error on the final to rallies to close out the match.
It's the first time since 2011 that the Blue Dragons led a match 2-0 and loss the match. The Dragons are now 1-6 in five-set matches this season.
Elena Takova led the Blue Dragons with 14 kills on .120 hitting with 50 total attacks. Lexi Hogan hit .079 with 12 kills. Crites and Delilah Vigil were next with six kills each. The Dragons hit .097 for the match with 48 kills and 32 attack errors.
Crites had her 11th double-double of the season with 29 assists and 12 digs. Payton Gawith had her fourth double-double with 16 assists and 13 digs.
Libero Raychel Reed finished with 24 assists.