Dragons Outduel Lady Saints in the Greenhouse

In front of a packed Greenhouse on a rare Monday night Jayhawk West date, the Seward County Lady Saints came out on the short end of a 3-1 decision as they watched the visiting Hutchinson Lady Blue Dragons clinch the conference title all to themselves.  The first set was lopsided in favor of Hutch as the Dragons blew Seward out 25-13, but the Lady Saints showed some life in the second to win 26-24 to tie things up at 1.  Midway through the third momentum swung back to the Dragons as they won 25-18 and smelling blood, Hutchinson buried the Lady Saints 25-14 in the fourth to take the match. 

Things did not get off to a good start for the Lady Saints who quickly found themselves down 12-4 to begin the first set.  Hutch continued to lead big throughout the set, going up by double digits at 21-11 on Seward's ninth error of the period.  There was no stopping the Dragon trail once it started moving downhill and Hutchinson easily took the first by a count of 25-13. 

The second set looked like it was heading the same was as once again Seward found themselves in a big early hole at 11-5 to start the set.  With substitutes in the game, the Lady Saints slowly crawled back into things and three straight kills by Carolina Gasparini and Kristen Anderson tied the score at 18.  Now with momentum and the crowd back on their side, the Lady Saints held strong, playing even with the conference leading Dragons to 22 before getting a kill from Megan Sharratt and another from Thayna Silva to give them set point.  A big block by the Dragons followed by a kill for Hutch tied the score back at 24 but a key Blue Dragon service error gave the Lady Saints their third crack at the set and this time they finished, getting a line shot from Gasparini to finish Hutch off in the second 26-24. 

Seward couldn't keep the momentum between sets as for the third straight set, they dug themselves an early hole to climb out of, this time an 11-6 deficit.  A trio of errors by the Dragons allowed Seward to within two and the Lady Saints picked up two kills later on from Silva and Gasparini to knot the score at 14.  The Lady Saints took their first lead of the period on another Gasparini kill, but a ball handling error tied the score and changed the match for Seward.  Hutch scored the next four points to go up 20-16 and after a service error gave the Lady Saints the ball back, another Seward misplay on a set spurred a 6-1 Dragon run to finish the set and give Hutchinson a 25-18 win to take a 2-1 lead in the match. 

For a moment in the fourth, it looked like it might be the side of the court was the difference as back on the East side, the Lady Saints jumped out to an early 9-7 advantage on the Dragons.  That lead was short-lived though as Hutch came back to tie the score at 11 before an Alex Wood tip broke the tie and put the Lady Saints back on top for the moment at 12-11.  From that point on it was all Hutchinson Blue Dragons.  A 4-0 run put the Dragons up 15-12 and after a sideout, a bigger run of 9-0 blew the game wide open at 24-13.  The Lady Saints were able to escape the first match point try, but not the second as the Dragons finished them off with a kill to win 25-14 and take the match 3-1. 

The big block of Hutchinson gave Seward's offense problems for the second straight meeting Monday night as the Lady Saints finished the match hitting just .034 overall and failed to hit in the green in three of four sets on the night.  Gasparini was the lone bright spot offensively for Seward in the loss as the sophomore racked up another double double with 10 kills and 17 digs while libero Kari Anderson finished with 25 digs for Seward.  The Lady Saints managed just 2 blocks in the match while a much bigger Hutchinson front line finished with 9. 

The Lady Saints fall to 21-13 overall on the year and 8-5 in Jayhawk West play where they now sit in a 4^th place tie with Pratt.  The Lady Dragons keep their Jayhawk West Conference mark perfect at 13-0 and clinch the league title with three matches to go while improving their overall mark to 20-9 on the year. 

Seward won't have much time to lick their wounds as they are back on the court Wednesday on the road at Butler, a team that shocked Seward in the Greenhouse earlier this season.  From there the Lady Saints will make their longest road trip of the season to Hillsboro, Missouri to participate in the Jefferson Tournament over the weekend. 

SEWARD COUNTY/HUTCHINSON BOX SCORE