HUTCHINSON — Nicole Kinser pounded down a career-high 17 kills and Jai Chapman had her second career double-double as the Hutchinson Community College volleyball team overcame a slow start in its Jayhawk West showdown with Seward County to defeat the Saints 3-1 on Wednesday night at the Sports Arena.
Seward County grabbed the first set 25-22 before a huge second set by Kinser sparked the Blue Dragons to win 25-15, 25-15, 25-18.
Winners of three-straight matches, the 7-5 Blue Dragons are now tied atop the Jayhawk West with Pratt at 4-0. Seward County (10-8) is tied with Colby for third at 3-2 in league play.
Hutchinson faced two seven-point deficits in the first set against a Saints team that was nearly flawless in the opening set. The Blue Dragons were done in by eight service errors in the first set and wound up pulling within two before a service error handed the set to Seward County.
Tied 9-9 in the second, Kinser started to assert herself and took over the match. She pounded down three-straight kills to spark a 16-6 run to close the set. Kinser had six kills, two solo blocks and one block assist to power the HCC surge.
Kinser had a similar affect in the third set after the Saints raced out to a 5-0 lead. The HCC sophomore middle had two kills and a block in a 9-2 Hutch run that quickly turned the set around.
For the match, Kinser had 17 kills and just one error to lead a 51-kill match for the Blue Dragons. She added six blocks to help HCC to a 14-6 block advantage over the Saints.
Chapman, who is a Liberal High graduate, pounded 11 kills and tied a season high with 12 digs. She also had two blocks and a service ace.
Sophomore Lauren Darby had eight kills. Freshman Petra Silic had seven kills and seven blocks. Freshman Aubrey Wilson had six kills and four total blocks.
Freshman libero McKenzie Steele had a season-high 34 digs, which ties Samantha Lackey for the second most ever in a match of any length and the most in team history for a four-set match.
Wilson had 20 set assists, while freshman Tarynn Stueder had 14 assists and two service aces.
The Saints were led by Carolina Gasparini and Thayna Silva with seven kills each.
As well as Seward County played in the first set, the Saints didn’t need the help from HCC’s eight service and four attack errors. A Megan Sharratt service ace gave the Saints a 19-12 lead and forced a Blue Dragon timeout. HCC started chipping away, getting within 20-15 on a Chapman kill, 21-17 on a Darby kill and 24-22 on another Chapman kill. But the eighth service error of the set came on set point and the Saints had the early advantage.
A 5-0 run by the Saints erased an early deficit and Seward County led 8-6. The Blue Dragon block, which had just one stuff block in the opening set, started to take effect. Silic and Lexi Turner combined to block back-to-back points as HCC reclaimed the lead at 9-8.
Then Kinser started to click. Three-straight Kinser kills capped a 7-1 HCC run to build a 13-9 lead. Then leading 14-12, HCC got a kill from Kinser that started a 11-3 run to close out the set. The Blue Dragons had two kills, six blocks and one ace in the second set.
Seward County scored the first five points of the third set, but HCC scored 9 of the next 11. Tied at 10-all, Silic scored points on the next four rallies with a double block with Turner, a kill on an overpass, a double block with Chapman and another emphatic kill on a quick set to the middle. That 4-0 run was the opening of a 15-5 third-set run. Kinser had five more kills, including a resounding termination on set point.
Leading 10-8 in the fourth set, a Wilson kill started a 6-0 Blue Dragon run. Kinser ended the run with a kill for a 16-8 lead. The Saints scored 4 of the next 5. Leading 19-14, kills by Darby and Chapman helped extend the margin to eight points. Chapman finished off the match with a powerful termination. HCC out-hit Seward County 12-5 in the fourth set.
The Blue Dragons continue their seven-match homestand this weekend with the Blue Dragon Invitational on Friday and Saturday at the Sports Arena.
MATCH NOTES – The Blue Dragons are now 2-3 in four-set matches this season. … HCC reached 50 kills in a match for the fourth time this season and the first in the last seven matches. … The Dragons were their own worst enemies at times on Wednesday with a season-high 13 service errors, 10 attack errors, a season-high seven ball-handling errors and six other various violations. … The all-time record for digs in a match was set by Samantha Lackey in 2012.