Seward Picks Up 20th Win For 22nd Straight Season
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Seward County Community College (20-13,10-4) | 25 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
|
Pratt Community College (6-22,2-12) | 17 | 23 | 23 | 0 |
While Thursday's match on the road against Pratt didn't have a whole lot of weight regarding the upcoming Region VI Playoffs for either Seward or Pratt, the Lady Saints entered the night on the brink of a pair of milestone numbers as they searched for their 10th Jayhawk West win of the year as well as their 20th win of the 2013 season. Seward achieved both, however not in the most dominating fashion, as the Lady Saints took the first 25-17 before the Beavers gave them a run for their money in the second and third sets with 25-23 scores, but the Lady Saints came out on top of a 3-0 victory to earn that 20th victory for the 22nd straight season.
The Lady Saints started the first set strong, jumping out to a 7-0 lead right off the bat thanks to some strong serving from freshman Carolina Gasparini. Seward continued to lead big throughout the set, holding a 13-7 advantage midway through and an 19-13 lead later on after a pair of Gasparini kills. Then Seward started going to their other outside Annelise Sanchez and she had just as much success as Gasparini, picking up three kills in a span of six points to give the Lady Saints a 23-15 lead late in the set. Seward finished things off in the middle with a Nacole Miller to Morgan Riley hookup to give themselves a 25-17 win and a 1-0 lead in the match.
In the second Seward didn't start quite as well, falling behind 3-0 before coming back to tie things up later on at 6-6. They took a 9-6 advantage after a mini 3-0 run, but the lead didn't last long as Pratt came back to knot things once again, this time at 12 at the half way point of the set. The Beavers kept on rolling, using a 8-1 run fueled by four straight Seward errors to take their biggest lead of the night at 16-12. The Lady Saints remained in chase mode until a Sanchez kill on an overpass tied things up at 19. Seward took their first lead since early on with an ace from Kristen Anderson to make it 21-20 and they never trailed again. A back to back kill and block from Riley put Seward up two and a double contact on the Beavers sealed their fate as the Lady Saints hung on to win 25-23.
Seward cruised to start the third, jumping in front 10-5 after scoring four straight points after a 6-5 start. Sloppy Beaver play allowed Seward to extend their lead to 14-7 and it looked like the Lady Saints were on their way to an easy sweep as they remained up big 18-13 later in the set on another kill from Sanchez. That's when Pratt started to make their move on Sophomore Night in the Beaverdome. Pratt closed the Seward lead to one after a 4-0 run and knotted things up at 20 after an ace and Seward reception error. After trading points, the Beavers took their first lead of the set at 22-21, but Seward immediately responded with back to back points to take the lead back 23-22. With the set tied at 23, Seward went to Gasparini who buried a kill to give them match point and with the defense all over Gasparini on the next point, Miller dished a perfect backset to Anderson on the right side who finished a kill off to give Seward the 25-23 win.
Gasparini finished with 10 kills, marking the 11th straight match with 10 or more, but she was one upped by fellow outside hitter Annelise Sanchez who ended the night with a match high 11. Both Gasparini and Sanchez hit better than .348 in the win. Miller dished out 29 of the Lady Saints 31 assists in the win while Gasparini and Kelci Bedingfield combined for 5 aces on the night. Gasparini, Bedingfield, and Kristen Anderson each had 7 digs to lead the way for Seward while Riley led the Lady Saints with 3 blocks.
The Lady Saints improve to 20-13 on the season, marking their 22nd straight year with 20 or more wins. They finish their Jayhawk West Conference slate at 10-4 and will be the #3 seed for the upcoming Region VI Tournament which starts November 5th. Pratt falls to 6-22 and 2-12 in league action. The 7th seeded Beavers will travel to Colby to take on the Lady Trojans in the first round after Colby inexplicably blew their chance of hosting the Region VI Tournament Thursday night after losing at home to Barton.
The Lady Saints will have the weekend off before returning to action next Tuesday on Sophomore Night in the Greenhouse when they will host Otero at 6:00.