Seward Gets a Pair of Wins Over D3 #2 Brookhaven at Vernon Tournament

The Seward County Lady Saints picked up their first signature wins of the 2013 season at this weekend's Vernon Labor Day Classic in Texas, knocking off Division III #2 Brookhaven twice on the weekend to split their tournament matchups 2-2.  Seward opened the classic with a three set win over the 2^nd ranked Bears and looked well on their way to their fifth straight win after taking it to North Central Texas in the first two sets of their matchup, but the Lions roared back, winning the next three sets to win the match 3-2 and halt Seward's win streak at four.  The Lady Saints had more trouble on Saturday as they lost to former Seward Assistant Coach turned Odessa Head Coach Alana Rowland and the Wranglers 3-0, but bounced back in the Pool A 3^rd place match with another 3-0 win over Brookhaven to come out of the weekend 2-2.

In their first match of the tournament the Lady Saints squared off against the Division III #2 ranked Brookhaven Bears.  The Lady Saints struggled to get things going in the first set as they had more hitting errors than kills while managing just one block as a team.  However, Seward found a way to come out on the good end of a 25-20 decision to take the early 1-0 lead in the match. 

                It was another slow start in the second set for Seward as Brookhaven took an early 4-3 lead, but from that point on, it was all Seward County.  The Lady Saints scored 8 of the next 10 points to take a commanding 12-5 lead and continued to open their lead before eventually taking the set 25-11 in a blowout.  Seward was much better offensively in the second set, hitting .172 as a team with just 4 hitting errors compared to the 10 in the first set.  Much of that firepower came from Carolina Gasparini who had 5 second set kills on 10 swings as well as teaming up with Morgan Riley for a pair of blocks in the set. 

                The Lady Saints once again fell behind early on in the third set as Brookhaven jumped out to a 7-5 lead.  The Bears stretched their lead one point further to 10-7 before a 7-0 run by Seward flipped the script and gave the Lady Saints a 14-10 lead.  Seward went up by five, 20-15, late in the set, but Brookhaven made a game of it, cutting the Lady Saints lead to just three at 22-19 moments later.  After the wakeup call, the Lady Saints took care of business, closing the set by scoring three of the final four points to close out the Bears with a 25-20 win to sweep the match.   The Lady Saints got offense from everyone in the third set, hammering down a season high 15 kills in the set including 4 more from Gasparini and 3 each from Annelise Sanchez and Carolina Freitas.  Quarterbacking that Seward offense was setter Nacole Miller who connected on 12 of 25 sets in the frame, good for a .480 percentage. 

                Gasparini led the Lady Saints with 11 kills in the win while Sanchez was second on the team with 7.  Seward had 9 aces as a team in the victory, led by 3 from Gasparini and 2 each from Kelci Bedingfield and Kari Anderson. Anderson also chipped in for Seward in the backrow where she led the Lady Saints with 12 digs. 

SEWARD COUNTY/D3 #2 BROOKHAVEN BOX SCORE

                Next  up for the Lady Saints was another Lone Star State foe in North Central Texas.  Unlike their first match of the day, the Lady Saints got off to a great start in this one.  Seward jumped out to a 7-1 lead right off the bat and stretched their lead all the way to 16-5 with a torrent offensive attack at the net.  North Central crawled back into the set, cutting the Lady Saints lead to 20-12, but it was just too little too late as Seward went on to take the first set 25-16.  The Lady Saints offense was coming from all angles in the first set victory.  Gasparini had 4 kills on the outside while Kristen Anderson had 3 on the right side and Erika Gilbert had 2 in the middle.  Seward hit a season high .500 in the set, recording 12 kills without an error on 24 attacks. 

                Another good run early in the second set pushed Seward out to their second straight big lead midway through the set.  After trading points to 5-5, the Lady Saints went on a 7-0 run to take a 12-5 advantage and pushed their lead to as many as 10 later on at 20-10.  From there it was just getting to the finish line for the Lady Saints and they did just that, winning by the same 10 point margin 25-15 to take a commanding 25-15 lead. 

                Just when it looked like they were out of it, here came the Lions.  North Central got out to a 6-2 lead early on, taking advantage of a pair of Seward errors to gain the upper hand early on.  Seward cut the Lion lead to 10-7 and then knotted things up midway through the set at 11-11.  North Central made another push to re-take the lead at 16-12, but Seward was able to close the gap down to two at 19-17 later on in the set.  With their backs to the wall, the Lions lashed out, scoring six of the final seven points of the set to win the set 25-18 and stay alive in the match.  After good play at the net in the first and second, the Lady Saints went cold in the third, managing just 8 total kills on 37 swings for a hitting percentage of just .108.  while going without a single block in the period. 

                Another dreadfully slow start plagued Seward once again in the fourth set as right away the Lady Saints found themselves in an 8-2 hole.  However, the scrappy Lady Saints didn't lay down, scoring six straight points to tie the set at 8 to bring things back to square one.  The teams jockeyed for position to 15-15 when North Central made another push to take the lead back 19-17.  The Lions continued to push towards the finish line and took a three point lead at 21-18 before trading points with Seward until the end of the set to win 25-22 and force a fifth set.  Nearly all of the Lady Saints points came on the outside in the fourth set as Gasparini and Sanchez combined for 10 kills while the rest of the Seward attackers managed just 3. 

                In the deciding fifth set, it was again North Central who got off to the better start.  The Lions grabbed momentum early with a 7-4 lead, but Seward scratched their way back into it, scoring the next three points to tie it 7-7 midway through.  North Central's next push could have been the difference in the match.  The Lions were able to get the lead back at 10-8 and used the momentum to later take a 13-9 lead and all but deflate the Lady Saints chances.  Seward didn't feel that way though and gave themselves a chance, cutting the North Central lead to 14-12 before the Lions landed the final blow to win 15-12 and take the match 3-2 with the improbable comeback. 

                Unfortunately for the Lady Saints, some big individual numbers were wasted in the loss.  Gasparini once again led Seward with a career high 16 kills while also notching her second double-double with 11 digs as well.  Sanchez also played her way into a double-double, pulling up 16 digs on the backrow to go along with 10 kills.  Anderson finished the match with 7 kills and just 1 error on the right side for Seward while Gilbert posted 7 kills without an error, good for a .583 hitting percentage, the highest of any Lady Saint in a match this season.  Miller led Seward with a season high 37 assists and Bedingfield had a team high 23 digs for the Lady Saints. 

SEWARD COUNTY/NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS BOX SCORE

                Saturday the Lady Saints looked to regroup in a matchup with former Seward Assistant Coach Alana Rowland and the Odessa Wranglers.  In a tilt between two teams who had been bitten by the injury bug, Odessa got off to the better start, taking an early 8-4 lead.  Seward cut that deficit in half, getting to within two at 12-10 and then knotting the set up at 16 later on.  Seward took their first lead of the set at 19-18 and looked like they were on their way to a first set victory as they went on top 21-18.  However, that is where their system shut down as Odessa scored the next seven points of the set to erase the Lady Saints lead and take one of their own before closing out the set with a 25-21 win. 

                The Lady Saints shook off their first set meltdown and got off to a good start in the second, taking a 7-3 lead early on.  Odessa closed the gap to 8-7 before tying the set up at 10.  The Wranglers then ran off four points in a row and six of the next seven to take a 16-11 lead and used the momentum to go on to win 25-18.  Seward couldn't get anything going on offense after the quick start, finishing the set with just 6 kills and coupled with 7 errors, the Lady Saints hit -.038 as a team in the period.  After the 7-3 start, Odessa outscored the Lady Saints 22-11 in the set. 

                Other than a 5-3 lead to start the third set, the Lady Saints struggled in the final set as well.  Odessa took a 10-8 lead midway through the set and extended their lead to 15-11 moments later.  Seward could never get close after that point as the Wranglers stretched their lead to 18-12 and then to 21-15 before closing the Lady Saints out 25-16 in the 3-0 sweep. 

                Seward's numbers were not pretty in the 3-0 loss.  The Lady Saints hit just .036 as a team, a season worst, and had just four players with kills in the match, led by Sanchez's 6.  Kristen Anderson, who was forced to move to the setter position due to an injury, dished out all 19 assists for the Lady Saints.  Kari Anderson led the Lady Saints with 14 digs while Gilbert was a part of 5 of Seward's 9 blocks as a team in the match. 

SEWARD COUNTY/ODESSA BOX SCORE

                The loss meant that the Lady Saints would play for 3^rd place in Pool A, with that match coming against Brookhaven once again.  Seward was clicking on all cylinders in the first, taking an early 10-7 lead which they stretched to 14-7 with four straight points midway through the set.  They opened their lead all the way up to 21-9 as Brookhaven had no answer for the gals in green at the net before Seward eventually went on to win 25-12.  The Lady Saints pounded down 15 kills in the first set including an unbelievable 7 from Sanchez who the Bears simply couldn't stop.  Sanchez ended the set with kills on 4 straight swings and 7 of her last 8 attacks. 

                It was a dreadfully slow start for Seward in the second however as before they couldn't blink, the Lady Saints found themselves in a 5-0 hole.  Midway through the set it looked as if Brookhaven was well on their way to tying the match up at 1-1 as they led 13-7 and later on 21-15.  That's when the Lady Saints kicked things into gear.  Seward scored three straight to cut the lead to 21-18 and then pushed their run to five to get to within one at 21-20.  Five points later Seward had come all the way back to tie the set at 23 and with momentum on their side the Lady Saints closed it out, winning 26-24.  Sanchez again led the Seward charge, nailing 7 more kills to the ground while fellow outside Carolina Gasparini chipped in 5 of her own.  The Lady Saints finished the set with a season high 18 kills in the set and hit .317 as a team. 

                Seward got off to a much better start in the third, taking a 7-2 lead to start things off.  The Lady Saints kept their five point lead to 10-5 and stretched it to 15-9 midway through the set.  Seward was never really challenged in the set, holding their lead to 20-14 before going on to win 25-20 to sweep the match 3-0.  This time it was Gasparini who did the bulk of the damage for the Lady Saints.  The freshman outside hitter had 7 kills on 9 attacks in the set, finishing with a cool .778 hitting percentage. 

                Anderson, in just her second match as the Seward setter, racked up 33 assists for the Lady Saints, dishing 30 of those to Gasparini and Sanchez who each had 15 kills in the victory.  It was the first time that two Seward hitters have had 15 kills each in a match since September 24^thof 2011 when Courtney Geesing and Aislyn Karney pulled the trick for the Lady Saints. 

SEWARD COUNTY/D3 #2 BROOKHAVEN BOX SCORE

                The 2-2 weekend moves the Lady Saints to 5-4 overall on the season.  Next up for the gals in green is a conference road match in Great bend on Wednesday where the Lady Saints will take on the rival Barton Cougars at 6:30.