Hutchinson CC Sports Information

The Hutchinson Community College volleyball team opens its conference season on Wednesday at the Hutchinson Sports Arena as the Cloud County Thunderbirds come to Hutchinson.

Match time is 6 p.m. with the match being streamed live on the Blue Dragon Sports Network.

Hutchinson hasn't played since a four-set victory over the Ottawa University junior varsity on Monday, August 23 at the Sports Arena. Cloud County (6-3, 0-1) will be playing in its 10th overall match and second league contest on Wednesday.

The Blue Dragons were led by freshman Blondie Penaflor in the opening match of the season against the Ottawa JV with 13 kills on .391 hitting. The Blue Dragons hit .217 for the match and had five players with at least eight kills. Sophomores Kristina Head and Tauja Durham had 10 kills each.

Cloud County enters Wednesday's match winning 3 of 4 matches at the Highland Volleyball tournament. The Thunderbirds, who return to Division I this season, were swept by No. 12 Barton in their league opener one week ago in Concordia.

The Thunderbirds are led by freshman outside hitter Natasha Dooley, who is averaging 3.36 kills on .235 hitting. Cloud's top four hitters are all freshmen hitting from the pins. Sophomore middle Geraldyn Palacios is hitting a team-high .411 with 2.28 kills per set.

Cloud County is also averaging 2.64 blocks, 1.81 services aces and 12.00 digs per set.

The Blue Dragons open a busy stretch to get their season truly going. The Dragons play four matches on Friday and Saturday at the McCook Tournament in McCook, Nebraska. Hutchinson will face defending national champion and current No. 1 Iowa Western on Saturday in McCook. The Blue Dragons then travel to Butler on Monday and return to the Sports Arena next Wednesday to take on Garden City.