[ By STEVE CARPENTER ]
[ HCC SPORTS INFORMATION ]
Photo courtesy of Joel Powers, HCC Sports Information
CONCORDIA, Kan. — Freshman outside hitter Shania Werner had career highs for both kills and blocks to help the Hutchinson Community College volleyball team take sole possession of first place in the Jayhawk West on Monday with a 3-0 victory over Cloud County at the Thunderdome.
The Blue Dragons won their sixth-straight match after a 25-23, 25-18, 25-16 victory over the Thunderbirds. The Blue Dragons improve to 22-11 overall and are now 13-2 in the Jayhawk West with one match to play against Colby on Wednesday at the Sports Arena. Hutchinson now leads Seward County and Colby by one-half game as the final week of the regular season began. The Saints and Trojans play on Saturday in Liberal.
Werner was huge in a first-set comeback for Hutchinson. Trailing 21-20, Werner had a pair of kills in a decisive 5-1 run that helped the Dragons surpass the T-Birds to win the set 25-23. The freshman from Plainville then figured in the final four points and 5 of the final 7 rallies as Hutch scored the final five points on the third set to close out the match.
Werner had season highs of 12 kills and four block assists and had her second-best hitting percentage of the season at .478 to lead the Blue Dragons. Werner had only one attack error on a season-high 23 swings. Her former season high for kills was eight against Snow College in September.
Freshman Page Hiebert reached double figures in kills with 10 kills on .450 hitting. Hiebert posted her fifth double-double with 12 digs.
Freshman Nina Pevic had seven kills and three blocks. Nadine Cruz hit .556 with six kills and four block assists. Nadine Cruz had six kills on .267 hitting.
Freshman setter Katie Jorn had three service aces and a team-high 11 assists with one kill. Freshman Nicole Rutherford had 15 assists and an ace.
Sophomore libero Mine Cetinoz had 18 digs and freshman defensive specialist Kelsey Mulligan had 10 digs.
Hutch had 43 kills to Cloud County’s 34. The Dragons outblocked Cloud County 11-5 and had five aces to the Thunderbirds’ four.
The Blue Dragons had a balanced attack in the opening set with five kills from Hiebert and four each from Fihaki and Werner. But the Thunderbirds built a 15-12 lead. A Pevic kill capped a 7-2 Hutch run and the Dragons led 19-17, but a 6-2 T-Bird run pushed the Dragons to the brink as Cloud led 23-21, forcing a Hutch timeout. Out of the timeout, a Werner kill, a Hiebert kill, a Patricia Joseph/Cruz double block and another Hiebert kill accounted for a momentum-turning 4-0 run and a Dragon 25-23 opening-set win.
The second set was playing out the same way as the first set as Cloud County led 17-16. A Thunderbird service error halted the Cloud charge and started a run of eight unanswered points. Jorn had all three of her ace serves during the 8-0 run, the third ace gave Hutch a 24-17 lead. After Cloud got a kill to stave off one set point, Werner terminated from the left pin to give the Dragons a two-set lead.
A Pevic kill was sandwiched between two Fihaki/Pevic double blocks to give Hutch a 7-2 lead in the third set. Cloud County won 6 of the next 8 rallies to pull within 9-8. The Dragons answered that challenge with a five-point run highlighted by back-to-back Cruz solo blocks. A Werner kill gave Hutch a 14-8 lead. Leading 21-16, the Blue Dragons finished the match in style. After a T-Bird attack error, the final four points of the match were a Werner kill, back-to-back Werner/Joseph double blocks and a Werner kill on match point. Werner had six kills and two blocks in the final set for Hutchinson.
The Blue Dragons will go after a share of a fifth-straight Jayhawk West championship on Wednesday when Colby comes to the Sports Arena for a 6:30 p.m. match.