No. 9 Lady Saints travel to Hutch for another tough road test

HUTCHINSON, Kan. – After taking over first place in the Jayhawk West, the No. 9 Lady Saints volleyball team will travel to Hutchinson to take on the third place Blue Dragons. The Lady Saints have won 16 straight Jayhawk West contest dating back to last season. This is the first match-up between the two teams since they last faced off in the Region VI Championship a year ago.

The Lady Saints (17-1, 6-0) continued their sweep streak versus Jayhawk opponents as they defeated No. 20 Colby on Saturday, 25-15, 25-15, 25-14.  Seward quickly quieted the rowdy Colby crowd to take away their home court advantage.

As a team, the Lady Saints have put on a dominating display on offense, leading the Jayhawk West in every statistical category. Seward ranks first in kills (890), kills per set (14.35), hitting percentage (.282), assists (777), assists per set (12.53), service aces (155), service aces per set (2.50), total points (1189.0) and points per set (19.2). The numbers for kill/set, assists/set, service aces/set, and points/set also put the Lady Saints as the leaders of the NJCAA.

Seward currently has the leader in eight statistical categories in the Jayhawk West. Giovanna Kuntze leads in four different categories – assists (617), assists per set (10.64), service aces (31) and service aces per set (.53).  Also leading offensive categories are Giovanna Tapigliani and Mariana Nascimento. Tapigliani leads in total kills (217) and total points (275.0), while Nascimento leads in kill percentage (.437). Nascimento's hitting percentage is currently the third highest in a single season by the Lady Saints. Rounding out the leaders is Luz Sierra, who leads the Jayhawk West in blocks per set (1.35.)

There is currently only one player beating Tapigliani in the Jayhawk West in kills per set, and she will be lining up on the other side of the net on Wednesday. Page Hiebert leads the Blue Dragons attack with 3.94 kills per set.

Hutchinson (13-6, 6-1) is coming off a weekend where they went 3-1, with a win against No. 6 Indian Hills and a five-set loss against No. 2 Iowa Western. Their lone loss in conference play came in a 3-1 loss to Colby.

Only one other player averages over two kills per set, and that is sophomore right side Nina Pevic, who averages 2.02.  The Lady Saints will have to work around middle hitters Patricia Joseph and Tatyana Ndekwe who average .96 blocks per set and .89 blocks per set, respectively.

The Lady Saints have currently won two straight at the Blue Dragons, with their last loss coming in the conference opener a year ago.  Hutchinson is one of the few conference teams to hold an all-time record over Seward, leading the Lady Saints 29 games to 10. Live video will be provided by the Blue Dragon Sports Network.