Viana's Career Night Leads Seward to 10th Straight Win
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Colby Community College (8-11, 4-3) | 11 | 19 | 22 | 0 |
|
Seward County Community College (17-7, 8-1) | 25 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
The Seward County Lady Saints raced to their 10th straight win Wednesday night in the Greenhouse with a 3-0 victory over visiting Colby. Seward was led by a career high 15 kills from freshman Viviane Viana, stretching the Lady Saints win streak to its longest since the 2008 season.
After a grueling five set win in Colby to open up the conference season way back on August 26th, the Lady Saints decided that they did not want quite that much drama in front of their home fans on Wednesday. Seward bolted out to a 6-2 lead on the Trojans, getting kills from Viviane Viana, Megan Sharratt, and Alex Wood to open up the early lead in the first. Later on it was the Lady Saints block doing the heavy lifting as Maritza Mesa and Belissa Guidotti combined on back to back stuffs to push Seward's lead to 12-7. A pair of Viana kills stretched the Lady Saints lead out to 18-7 and it was smooth sailing from there. Seward closed out the Trojans on another Viana kill on set point and dumped Colby 25-11 in the first. Seward hit .370 in the first with 12 kills and just two errors, getting kills from six different players in the set.
As they did in the first, it was again a strong push from Seward at the start of the second to get them going on the right path. A tone setting block from Sharratt and Kaysie Paxton opened the second and three Viana kills opened up a 6-1 advantage for the Lady Saints. Viana continued to be red hot for the Lady Saints, upping the Seward lead to 14-8 on a kill midway through the set. Then it was Wood's turn to step on the gas as she pounded a pair of balls through the Colby defense to extend the Lady Saints lead to 19-11. Colby made a small push at the end of the period, but the damage by Seward was already done as Viana banged home her eighth kill of the set to put the final nail in the Trojans, giving the Lady Saints a 25-19 win to go in front 2-0 in the match. Seward finished the second set with 15 kills and just one error, good for a .467 hitting percentage on 30 total attack attempts.
The third started much as the first two sets did, with the Lady Saints in control right off the bat. Seward jumped out to a 6-2 lead for the third straight set and carried a healthy 12-6 lead to the midway point of the set. The Lady Saints lead ballooned to 17-9 after three straight Colby attack errors, but for the first time in the match, the Trojans made a run. Colby scored the next eight points of the set, helped by three Seward hitting miscues and two more passing blunders to tie the score at 17. A crosscourt smash by Mesa put the Lady Saints back in front and a big block by Wood and Sharratt on the outside moments later gave Seward a 23-19 advantage. Colby wouldn't go down without a fight, scoring three straight to make it a 23-22 game, but a key kill on an overpass from Paxton gave Seward match point and Wood and Guidotti combined for a stuff on the far pin to seal the deal for the Lady Saints 25-22 to sweep the match 3-0.
Viana led the Lady Saints offensive attack with a career high 15 kills on the night, eight of those coming in her stellar second set. The freshman also led Seward on the back line with eight digs. Wood, Sharratt, and Mesa each had six kills for Seward in the victory while Jade Piper and Amanda Pereira led the Lady Saints offense with 13 and 11 assists respectively.
The victory for Seward is its 10th straight, marking the programs longest win streak since the 2008 season when the Lady Saints opened the season 10-0. The Lady Saints improve to 17-7 overall on the year but more importantly, move to 8-1 in Jayhawk West Conference action where for the moment, they sit atop the conference standings tied with Hutchinson. Seward sweeps the season series with Colby, dropping the Trojans to 8-11 overall and 4-3 in Jayhawk West play on the season.
Seward will return to the road on Friday, heading to the premier NJCAA tournament in the country this weekend in Tyler, Texas. In the Lone Star State the Lady Saints will take on New Mexico Military and #11 Panola on Friday followed by dates with Paris and #1 Tyler on Saturday. The Lady Saints return home next Wednesday to battle Hutchinson in a key Jayhawk West Conference battle with the Dragons.