Lady Saints First to Exit at Region VI Championships

There were questions going in as to how a group of 8 freshman and 2 sophomores who had never been to the Region VI Championships would respond after being thrown into the fire this weekend in Hutchinson.  After a slow start to their first match against Colby, falling behind 2-0, Seward stormed back to knot the match at two, before going cold and losing the fifth 15-8 to give themselves an uphill battle for the rest of the weekend.  However, that weekend didn't last much longer as Seward went out in their second match and were swept by a 13-19 Barton team to end the Lady Saints season in fourth place in the region.  

The Seward County Lady Saints journey for a chance to play at the NJCAA National Tournament in Casper, Wyoming started on Sunday as they were one of four remaining teams left in the 2013 NJCAA Region VI Championship Tournament.  First up for the 3^rd seeded Lady Saints was 2^nd seeded Colby, a team who stung Seward twice in five sets during the regular season. 

Seward looked shell shocked out of the gates in the first, as Colby raced out to a 17-8 lead and then a 25-12 win to take a 1-0 lead.  The Lady Saints managed just 4 kills in the set, a season low. 

The second wasn't much better for Seward as Colby opened up a 12-7 lead midway through the set after a 7-2 run and once again coasted to an easy 25-18 win.  

It looked like Seward was going to go down without a fight as Colby once again controlled the pace early in the third, taking a 10-6 and 19-13 lead in the set.   Just when it looked like the Lady Saints were done, they came back.  Seward scored three straight to make it 19-16 and then got all the way to within one at 22-21 when a service error looked like it was going to be the final straw.  The Lady Saints had other ideas.  Seward stormed back to fight off a pair of match points and came away with a 26-24 win to extend the match to a fourth set. After the slow start, the Seward offense was electric in the third set win.  The Lady Saints had just 1 error on 32 swings, putting away 14 kills to finish with a .406 hitting percentage in the set after posting .000 and .040 marks in the first two sets.

Early on in the fourth, a tough no call that went against the Lady Saints seemed to have them flustered as they saw a 4-4 tie turn into a 9-4 lead for Colby in the blink of an eye.  Seward regrouped though and kept the score close, trailing by just two 15-13 midway through the set. Three points later, a block on the outside by Nacole Miller and Morgan Riley gave Seward their first lead of the set at 16-15.  The Lady Saints used the momentum to go on a 9-0 run and blew the set open 21-15 before hanging on to win 25-21. 

For the third time this season, Seward and Colby were set for a dramatic fifth set finish.  Unfortunately for the Lady Saints, the set didn't end up being overly dramatic and it wasn't because they were the ones blowing out the Trojans.  Colby jumped out to a 5-1 lead and then an 8-1 advantage at the changeover.  The Trojans continued to pummel the Lady Saints to open up an 11-1 lead later on.  Seward came back swinging, but the early damage was just too much as Colby finished out a 15-8 win to take the match 3-2. 

The offensive numbers for Seward in the loss were not pretty.  The Lady Saints finished with just 37 kills as a team, led by 11 from Carolina Gasparini and 8 each from Morgan Riley and Annelise Sanchez.  Miller dished out 38 of Seward's 39 assists on the night while Kari Anderson led the Lady Saints with 19 digs.  Blocking was Seward's calling card in the match as the Lady Saints finished with 14 blocks as a team, just two off of their season high of 16.  Riley had 9 of those blocks in the match while Sanchez had 4 and Erika Gilbert and Miller each had 3. 

SEWARD COUNTY/COLBY BOX SCORE

Seward faced the tough task of coming back right away after the hard fought loss to take on 4^th seeded Barton in the first elimination match of the tournament next. 

It looked like a bit of a hangover for Seward in the first set as they fell behind the 13-19 Cougars 9-3 right off the bat.  After going down 14-9 later on, the Lady Saints fought back and tied the set at 14.  Just when it looked like they had things rolling in the right direction, back to back service errors by the Lady Saints killed their momentum and put them down 20-16.  Barton continued to push and finished off the Lady Saints 25-19 to take the first set and a 1-0 lead in the match.  Once again, the Lady Saints offense struggled mightily in the first.  Seward hit just .033 as a team and scored just 6 times off attacks in the set. 

The second set was a tight one throughout.  Two straight Barton errors early on broke a 6-6 tie and gave the Lady Saints an 8-6 advantage.  The Cougars came back to tie the set at 11 midway through and used the momentum to grab a 17-15 lead later on in the set.  The Lady Saints remained close, but couldn't get over the hump as Barton carried a 22-19 lead into the later portions of the set before finishing Seward off 25-21. 

While down 2-0 to the Cougars, the Lady Saints were not in an unfamiliar spot as just two months before, Barton had Seward down 2-0 in the Perryman Center in Great Bend before the Lady Saints stormed back to win three straight sets and the match 3-2. 

It wasn't a good start for Seward's chances of a comeback though as Barton got out to an 8-4 lead in the third.  The Cougars held Seward at bey to 13-10 and pushed their lead to four at 21-17 later in the set.  The Lady Saints gave it one last push with their season on the line and scored four straight points to knot the set at 21.  However, destiny was not on the Lady Saints side as it was Barton scoring the next four points of the set, finishing strong to win 25-21 and sweep Seward out of the tournament with a 3-0 victory. 

Gasparini once again led the Lady Saints in kills, this time with 9 in the loss while Riley and Sanchez finished their Seward careers with 6 kills each against the Cougars.  Miller had all 28 of the Lady Saints assists in the defeat and Kari Anderson was the only Seward player to reach double figures in digs with 17. 

SEWARD COUNTY/BARTON BOX SCORE

The Lady Saints were the first team eliminated from the tournament and finish 4^th.  Seward ends the 2013 campaign with a 22-17 overall record. 

At seasons end, a number of Lady Saints made their mark on history and into the record books as setter Nacole Miller finished the year with 1,069 assists, good for 10^th most in a single season in school history and also placing her 10^th on the all-time career list.  Morgan Riley finishes her Seward career with 289 career blocks, passing her coach Sheina Fernandes for 6^th on the school's all-time list.  Both Lady Saint defensive specialists reached the top 10 in single season digs in 2013.  Kari Anderson's 523 were good for 7^th best in a season and Kelci Bedingfield's 478 were good for 9^th.