Seward Can't Hold Late Lead, Lose Key West Match to Colby

It was an interesting battle Wednesday night in the Greenhouse as Seward County and Colby battled for Jayhawk West supremacy on a rainy evening in Liberal.  The Lady Saints got out to a good start in the first before hanging on to win 25-23, but it was Colby who roared back to hammer Seward 25-11 in both the second and third sets to take a 2-1 lead.  Seward battled back to force a fifth set with a 25-22 win in the fourth and looked like they had things wrapped up with a 13-9 lead late in the fifth, but six straight Colby points to finish the fifth set gave the Trojans a 15-13 win to take the match 3-2.  

With a week off for both teams leading up to their highly anticipated matchup Wednesday, Seward and Colby certainly got off to polar opposite starts.  The Lady Saints looked good early, jumping out to a quick 6-1 lead while Colby looked out of sorts as they struggled and found themselves in an early five point hole.  Things leveled out though and the Lady Trojans made a run to knot the set back up at 11, but Seward continued to push and retook the lead late in the set 20-18 before Colby called a timeout to stop the Lady Saints momentum.  The timeout worked as the Lady Trojans scored the next three points to take their first lead of the set at 21-20, but as they have all season, Seward continued to fight, breaking a 22-22 tie with a point to go up 23-22 before closing out the set to win 25-23.  Seward won the first set despite hitting just .065 as a team and finishing the set with just 7 total kills. 

Colby looked like a completely different team in the second set.  The Lady Trojans bolted out to a 7-1 lead before Seward could figure out what hit them.  The Lady Saints regained their footing and their deficit remained just six midway through the set at 15-9, but Colby again stepped on the gas and finished the set on a 10-2 run to blow Seward away 25-11 to tie the set at 1.  Seward managed just 19 total attacks in the set, consequently getting just 6 kills, and hitting .105. 

The third set was nearly an identical copy of the second as again it was Colby getting out to the early lead as the Lady Saints continued to struggle to find their rhythm.  Down 7-4, the Lady Saints quickly saw their deficit balloon as Colby went on a 9-5 run to stretch their lead to 16-9.  The pain didn't stop there for Seward as the Lady Trojans scored six straight points to blow the set wide open to 22-9 before final putting the Lady Saints out of their third set misery 25-11.  Offense, or lack thereof, was once again an issue for the Lady Saints in the third.  Seward followed up a 7 kill first set and 6 kill second set, with just 5 kills in the third as they hit -.074 as a team in the period. 

Things were even as the fourth set got underway as the Lady Saints and Lady Trojans were tied at 7 before a Seward kill from Morgan Riley put them up 8-7.  Once again though, the Lady Saints found themselves in a rut that they couldn't get out of and after a 9-4 run by Colby, the Lady Saints found themselves in trouble down 16-12.  Colby looked to move even further ahead as an attack zeroed in on the back corner of the court, but the ball was called long by the officials, to the dismay of Colby Coach Carey Jones, and the play seemed to have turned the momentum in the set.  Seward used the play to go on a 4-0 run to tie the set at 16 and a pair of blocks from Riley gave the Lady Saints the lead back at 18-16.  It would remain a two point lead for Seward later in the set at 24-22 before the Lady Saints pulled through on set point to win 25-22 and even the match at 2-2. 

With momentum rolling on their side, the Lady Saints opened the deciding fifth set with a 5-1 lead and looked well on their way to a second straight five set victory over a conference rival.  Seward led 8-5 at the changeover and pushed their lead to 13-9 before Colby called a desperation timeout to try and stop the roll that the Lady Saints were on.  Needing just two of the final eight points to capture the crucial Jayhawk West victory, the Lady Saints fell flat.  Colby scored four straight points to tie thing at 13 out of the timeout as Seward failed to find a way to get the much needed side out.  The Lady Saints missed on another opportunity on the next play and Colby took advantage to give themselves match point at 14-13.  With everything on the line it was Colby who was able to prevail, sending an attack down the line right in front of a stunned Seward bench to win the set 15-13 with their sixth straight point to win the match 3-2.  Seward's offense was actually the best as it had been all night in the fifth set as the Lady Saints tied a match high with 7 kills in the set, but Seward couldn't get one when they needed it at the end as they failed to side out on the final six points of the night to fall in the match. 

The only stat that was a good one at the end of the night for the Lady Saints was blocking at the net.  Seward finished the match with 11 total blocks including at least one from every front row player and 7 from their sophomore middle Riley.  Riley also led the Lady Saints on the offensive side of the net with 11 kills and a .219 hitting percentage, but outside of Riley, Seward hit .000 as a team in the dual.  Kristen Anderson had 27 of Seward's 29 assists in the loss and Carolina Gasparini and Kelci Bedingfield tied for the team lead with 12 digs. 

Seward loses a key game in the early season race for the Jayhawk West crown, falling to 6-5 overall and 2-1 in conference action.  It marks the first time that a road team has one in the Seward/Colby series since the 2010 season.  Colby improves to 7-3 overall and 3-0 in Jayhawk West action, taking a stranglehold on the league race after just three games with back to back wins over Hutchinson and Seward. 

Things don't get any easier for Seward this weekend as the Lady Saints will travel to Sterling, Colorado for the Pizza Hut Classic where they will take on the likes of Otero, Northeastern, North Idaho, and North Platte.  Otero knocked off Seward on opening weekend of the season while Northeastern is ranked #20 in the country, North Idaho is ranked 16^th, and the Division II Knights go to Sterling with a 9-1 record. 

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