COLBY – For the first 2 1/2 sets on Tuesday, the Hutchinson Community College volleyball team had things going its way in the 2016 season opener against the Colby Trojans at the Colby Community Building.

The next 1 1/2 sets, not so much.

But the new-look Blue Dragons got some key contributions off the bench and turned things around in the fifth to defeat the Trojans 3-2 (25-19, 25-20, 18-25, 14-25, 15-9).

Redshirt freshman Kyann Eslick made her long-awaited Blue Dragon debut – she missed last season with an injury – to pound down 12 kills on .435 hitting off the bench. Freshman Nadine Cruz also came off the bench to tally 12 kills on .526 hitting.

The Blue Dragons were out-hit by Colby 52-49 in kills. The Trojans had 26 attack errors to Hutch’s 24. The Blue Dragons had an 11-7 blocks advantage. Colby had 11 ace serves to Hutchinson’s seven.

Sophomore Hinalei Fihaki led the Dragons with 11 total blocks (1 solo, 10 assist). She added six kills. Page Hiebert added six kills.

Freshman setter Nicole Rutherford had 21 assists and a pair of service aces. Freshman setter Katie Jorn added 19 assists with one ace and seven digs. Sophomore libero Mine Cetinoz had 22 digs and a fifth-set service ace. Kelsey Mulligan also had two aces.

Alex Malek led Colby with 13 kills and five aces. Singryd Valadera had eight kills and three blocks.