Hutchinson CC Sports Information
Freshman Sophie Connor had a career-high 14 kills, but the Hutchinson Community College volleyball team's offense continued to struggle as Dodge City came into the Sports Arena and defeated the Blue Dragons in four sets on Wednesday night.
Hutchinson lost to Dodge City for the first time since 2010 in a 20-25, 21-25, 25-19, 19-25 defeat by the Conquistadors, who snap a 23-game losing streak against the Blue Dragons.
Hutchinson fell to 7-6 overall and 2-3 in the Jayhawk West. Dodge City is now 5-1 overall and 2-1 in the Jayhawk West. Hutchinson opens the Blue Dragon Classic on Friday with No. 16 Trinity Valley at 3 p.m. on Friday at the Sports Arena.
Connor had a season-high 14 kills on .238 hitting to lead the Blue Dragons. But the Blue Dragons hit only .126 for the match, the third-straight match to hit .159 or less.
Dodge City hit .264 for the match and hit .308 or better in the three sets it won. Hillary English just missed a triple-double in leading the Conquistadors with 19 kills on .267 hitting eight nine assists and eight digs. Martyna Kmuk hit .429 with 13 kills.
The Blue Dragons were out-blocked by Dodge City 7-5 and out-dug 55-48.
Freshman Zoe Schmidt had nine kills on .333 hitting with 10 digs and two block assists. Freshman Blondie Penaflor had seven kills while hitting .200. Kristin head finished with six kills, a solo block and a block assist.
Freshman Setter Andrea Serrano finished with 32 assists and seven digs. Freshman libero Amanda Velez had nine digs.
SET 1: The first 26 rallies of the opening set featured 12 changes and three lead changes with neither team leading by more than a single point. Dodge City started to take command of the set with a 4-1 run and led 17-14 after an English kill. A Connor kill pulled the Dragons within 18-17, but an English kill, one of four by her in the first set, started a 7-3 run to close out the opening set. Dodge City hit .308 in the first set to the Blue Dragons' .111 hitting.
SET 2: Dodge City out-hit the Dragons .367-.031. The Conquistadors had early leads of 6-3, 9-5 and 11-8. The Dragons tied the set at 13-all after a Penaflor-Schmidt combo block and led 15-13 after a Schmidt kill. Dodge City rallied back to knot the set at 18-all after a stuff block. The Dragons had a 20-19 lead after a Dodge double contact. The Conquistadors scored 6 of the final 7 points to take a 2-0 match lead.
SET 3: Connor paces an improved offensive production in the third set with five kills. The Dragons hit .222 in the third set and held Dodge City to just .062. The Dragons jumped out to a 12-5 lead after a Schmidt kill. Two kills by Connor and single kills from Penaflor and Schmidt upped the Dragon lead to 17-10. The Conquistadors scored 6 of the next 9 points and pulled within 20-15 on an English kill. The Dragons answered with a 4-1 run, capped by a Head ace for a 24-16 lead.
SET 4: Dodge City raced out to an 8-3 lead and didn't look back. The Conquistadors finished off the match by hitting .324 and was powered by English, who had nine kills in the final set. Dodge City led early 13-6. The Dragons pulled within 19-14 after a Tauja Durham. Back=to-back kills by English helped the Conquistadors to a 22-14 lead. The Dragons went on a 5-1 run – Schmidt had three kills in the run – to pull within 23-19, but Dodge City scored the final two points of the set to close out the match.