Hutchinson CC Sports Information
CONCORDIA – It was a comeback kind of Saturday for the Hutchinson Community College Volleyball team.
First, the Blue Dragons rallied from down two sets to defeat Cloud County in five sets (21-25, 23-25, 25-23, 25-16, 15-9) in a Jayhawk West contest. Hutchinson had to turn right around and lost first set to Highland, but won the next three in a 14-25, 25-22, 25-22, 25-15 victory over the Division II, No. 7-ranked Scotties at Arley Bryant Gym in Concordia.
The Blue Dragon improved to 14-9 overall and 5-5 in the Jayhawk West. Hutchinson plays host to No. 10-ranked Seward County at 6 p.m. on Wednesday at the Sports Arena. Cloud County is now 11-11 and 1-8. Highland is now 20-3.
The comeback against Cloud County was the first time that Hutchinson has rallied to win a match after trailing 2-0 since doing so at Seward County on October 7, 2016 in Liberal. It's the sixth time ever for the Dragons to comeback from an 0-2 deficit.
The Blue Dragons were out-hit by the Thunderbirds .221-.103 in the opening two sets. Hutchinson hit .244 in the final three sets. Cloud County hit .134, including a negative .002 in the fourth and fifth sets.
The Blue Dragons are now 4-0 in five-set matches this season and 2-0 in five setters against Cloud County.
The four-set win over Highland was the first time that the Blue Dragons and Scotties have played since October 20, 2001. The Dragons hit a negative .077 in the first set against Highland, but improved to .232 over the final three sets.
CLOUD COUNTY RECAP
After dropping two tight sets, the Blue Dragons trailed the Thunderbirds 6-2 early and 22-20 late in the third set. Hutch took a 23-22 lead on a Morgan Harvey kill, double block by Blondie Penaflor and Chloe Conway and a Melina Christodoulou service ace. Tied at 23, a pair of Penaflor kills extended the match with a 25-23 Dragon win.
Hutchinson took an early 7-3 lead in the fourth set and extended it to 13-6 on an Aubreigh Haxtun solo block. The Dragons had two eight-point leads in the fourth set as the defense held Cloud County to .029. The Dragons pushed the match to a fifth set on a Kristina Head back-row kill.
The Blue Dragons opened the fifth set with a 6-1 run, but Cloud County scored 8 of the next 10 to take a 9-8 lead. A Penaflor kill tied the set at nine and started a decisive 7-0 Andrea Serrano service run. Serrano had two aces, the Dragons had two blocks and Penaflor had two kills to complete the comeback.
Penaflor had a season-high 20 kills with .326 hitting on 43 attacks to lead the Blue Dragons. Christodoulou was next with 11 kills on .209 hitting. Harvey and Head had eight kills each and the Blue Dragons hit .182 for the match.
Hutchinson had 12 team blocks, the second most blocks in a single match this season. Conway had a team-high six blocks. Head and Harvey had four blocks each.
The Blue Dragons had 54 total digs led by libero Zoe Schmidt's 16 digs. Head had 10 digs and Harvey had nine digs.
Serrano had 29 assists and freshman McKinley Johnson had 19 assists.
Natasha Dooley had 15 kills and Geradyn Palacios and Kenzie Cooper had 12 kills each to lead Cloud County, which hit .172 for the match.
HIGHLAND RECAP
After hitting a negative .077 in a decisive first-set Highland win, the Blue Dragons regained their offensive touch with .429 hitting in the second set, .139 in the third set and .393 in a dominant fourth set.
Christodoulou hammered home 12 kills on a season-high .474 hitting with three block assists to lead the Blue Dragons.
Sophie Connor had nine kills and Head had eight kills for the Dragons, who hit .232 against the Scotties.
Serrano had 21 assists and five digs. Johnson had 17 assists.
The Blue Dragons had 10 or more services aces for the ninth time this season with 15 aces. Head had five aces, Johnson had four and Connor had three aces.
Schmidt had 13 digs to lead the Dragons defensively.
McKenna Rhodes and Jenna Pfau had 13 kills each to lead Highland.