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HCC Sports Information
Friday, September 14, 2007
WEST PLAINS, Mo. – The No. 12 Hutchinson Community College volleyball team split
its opening matches on Friday at the Missouri State-West Plains Invitational
at the West Plains Civic Center.
In the first match of the tournament on
Friday, the Lady Dragons dropped the opening game to Northwest-Shoals 23-30,
30-26, 30-24, 30-16. In the final match of the evening HCC lost to No. 8
Missouri-State West Plains 18-30, 30-24, 27-30, 24-30 in what Hutch head
coach Ronda Shirley described “as a typical Hutch-West Plains match.”
“It was back-and-fourth and both teams were
digging up everything,” said Shirley, whose team will play No. 6 Miami-Dade
and No. 20 Lake Land on Saturday. “They were just a little better. They had
a little more firepower and were more consistent.
“I was really happy with the way we played.
We played our best match of the year even though we lost.”
Freshman Molly Bergkamp, after igniting the
Lady Dragons (11-7) against Northwest-Shoals earlier in the day, continued
to step up against the Grizzlies with 14 kills and 24 digs, both season
highs.
Sophomores Ludmila Amaral and Sarah Unruh had
13 kills each. Amaral added three blocks and two digs. Sophomore Nikki Canon
had five kills and one block. Unruh added two blocks.
“West Plains was just digging everything,”
Shirley said. “They even had a dig that came off a player’s foot. Molly and
Sarah really powered the ball on their attacks, but West Plains was a
digging machine.”
Freshman setter Melissa Gmur had perhaps her
most solid match of her brief collegiate career with 40 assists, six kills
and two blocks.
“Melissa really set a solid match,” Shirley
said. “She played so smart. She really picked it up.”
HCC’s floor defense also shined against West
Plains. Sophomore libero KeAnne Langford set a new career high in digs for
the second time in three days with 26. Gmur had 15 digs and Canon had 11
digs.
It was the second time this season that HCC
last lost to West Plains. The Lady Dragons are now 3-6 against nationally
ranked competition so far in 2007.
In Friday’s earlier match Amaral smacked 18
kills to lead HCC to a 3-1 victory over Northwest-Shoals, Ala.
The Lady Dragons started out in an 8-1 hole
in the opener and never recovered. It was the first time in four matches
that Hutchinson has dropped a game against Northwest-Shoals They trailed 7-1
in Game 2 before starting the comeback.
Amaral paced the HCC offense hitting a .586,
but the team hit only .287. Amaral added four blocks.
Unruh hit a .277 with 14 kills, four digs and
one block. Canon had seven kills, 10 digs, two aces and two blocks. Freshman
LaToya Taylor had seven kills and one block.
Bergkamp played the final three games and had
nine kills, 12 digs, one ace and one block.
Gmur had 47 assists, five kills and four
aces. |
