Lady Saints Come From Behind To Knock Off Garden
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Garden City Community College (8-18,3-9) | 25 | 19 | 14 | 23 | 1 |
|
Seward County Community College (19-12,7-4) | 23 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
The Seward County Lady Saints were noticeably rusty Wednesday night in the Greenhouse after their longest layoff of the 2014 season. However, the Lady Saints were able to overcome an early 1-0 deficit to win the final three sets against Garden City, picking up their 19th straight win over their rivals to the North on Dig Pink Night in the Greenhouse.
Playing for the first time in seven days, the Lady Saints got off to a dreadful start against Garden City with the Greenhouse decked out in pink for their annual Dig Pink Breast Cancer Awareness match. The 8th place Busters jumped out to a 6-1 lead over the Lady Saints to begin the match before Seward recovered to tie the set and take a lead on an ace from Megan Sharratt to make it 10-9. Seward's struggles reappeared through the middle of the set as the Lady Saints went without a kill for 10 points, watching their lead disappear and the Busters go back in front 15-13. Once again the Lady Saints picked their play back up to go back on top 21-17 on a pair of aces and a kill from Thayna Silva, but Garden outscored Seward 8-2 to close the set to win 25-23 and take a 1-0 lead in the match.
After a stern talking to by Head Coach Bert Luallen, the Lady Saints came out with a little bit more fire in the second, breaking out to an 8-2 lead on points from six different players. The Lady Saints continued to hold a sizeable lead through the middle of the set to 12-6, but three straight errors allowed the Busters back to within two at 12-10. A Seward ball handling error knotted the score at 13 moments later and Garden City actually took a 15-14 lead after a pair of kills. A timeout got Seward back on track and the Lady Saints scored six straight points including two more aces from Silva to go back in front 20-15 and they closed the set out with a kill from Alex Wood to win 25-19 and even the match at 1-1.
The Lady Saints looked like they were in for another dogfight in the third as the two teams were tied at 7 early on and later tied at 11 midway through the set. That's when a switched seemed to have turned on for the gals in green as they got two kills from Wood and two blocks from Carolina Gasparini and Lindsey Schwab in the middle of a 8-0 run to all of a sudden take a 19-11 lead. The run took the air out of the Busters balloon and a pair of aces by Gasparini finished Garden City off 25-14 to put Seward up 2-1 in the match.
Seward got off to another good start in the fourth, taking a 6-2 lead after Wood and Schwab opened the set with a block and Silva blasted one down the line to put Seward up four. The Lady Saints were unable to keep up the pace though and their lead quickly evaporated and Garden City took a one point advantage at 9-8 after a Seward reception blunder. Seward took a 15-14 lead back on a Garden error but quickly gave that back up on a service error and a ball handling error to give the Busters a 16-15 lead. It continued to be a nip and tuck battle down the stretch until Seward finally pulled ahead by three late on a kill from Angelina Minor and Silva's seventh ace of the match to make it a 23-20 contest. After trading points to 24-21 the Lady Saints had three shots at match point and it took until the third try before they were able to close it as Garden City was called in the net to give Seward a 25-23 win in the fourth.
Seward finished the match hitting .183 as a team with 48 kills and 20 errors on the night. Silva led the Lady Saints with 12 kills and 19 digs in her 15th double double of the season while Gasparini followed suit with double double number 10 finishing with 11 kills and 20 digs in the win. Megan Sharratt was solid in the middle for the Lady Saints, hitting .476 in the match with 10 kills and 0 errors on 21 chances while Wood banged home 8 kills on the right side for Seward. Nacole Miller led the Lady Saints with 23 assists on the night while Kari Anderson finished with 25 digs for Seward.
The Lady Saints improve to 19-12 overall on the year and 7-4 in Jayhawk West play with their 19th straight victory over Garden City while the Lady Busters struggles continue as they fall to 8-18 overall and 3-9 in conference action.
Seward continues their homestand on Friday when they host Lamar in a non-conference contest beginning at 6:30 in the Greenhouse.