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By Steve Carpenter
HCC Sports Information Director
Monday, September 17, 2007
The No. 12 Hutchinson Community College
volleyball team put together its most complete performance of the season on
Monday night in a 3-0 sweep of Butler in a Jayhawk Conference matchup at the
Sports Arena.
Three different Lady Dragons had at least
seven kills at Hutchinson dropped Butler 30-15, 30-17, 30-19 to run their
Jayhawk West winning streak to 27 matches and to 49 matches against Jayhawk
West opponents.
“We came out strong and that was good,” said
sophomore Sarah Unruh, referring to the Lady Dragons’ 1-3 weekend at the
West Plains Invitational. “We came out motivated. Everyone wanted it a lot
more after a tough weekend. We had something to prove. That was a big
factor.”
Sophomore All-American Ludmila Amaral had a
team-high nine kills and hit a .400 to lead the Lady Dragons (12-9, 3-0
Jayhawk West). Amaral also had two blocks, six digs and three ace serves.
Unruh had seven kills, hitting a .176.
Freshman Molly Bergkamp had seven kills hitting a .250. She added 12 digs.
“When we saw (Butler) at the preseason
scrimmage, they were blocking really well,” HCC head coach Ronda Shirley
said. “They have some good, big, athletic kids. They played strong at points
tonight, but we served an aggressive game and we passed a lot better. We
knew if could pass and run a quick offense, it would be to our favor.”
Hutchinson had 11 team blocks, led by
freshman LaToya Taylor’s three blocks. The Lady Dragons had 58 digs.
Sophomore libero KeAnne Langford had a team-high 15 digs and was one of six
HCC players with at least six digs.
Freshman setter Melissa Gmur had 27 assists,
seven digs, two kills and one ace.
The Lady Dragons hit .187 as a team.
HCC set the tone early in Game 1. Despite
hitting a match-low nine kills and .153 hitting percentage in the opener,
the Lady Dragons raced out to a 6-0 lead with a strong presence from Taylor
in the front row, who had two blocks and a kill during the initial run.
The Lady Dragons were never pushed in Game 1,
building a 10-point lead for the first time at 16-6 on an Amaral ace. Hutch
closed the game on a 7-1 run, ending it on an Amaral kill.
HCC had to fight back from a 9-5 deficit in
Game 2. After a rotation violation gave Butler a four-point lead, the Lady
Dragons quickly turned the tables with a 5-1 run. With the game tied at
11-all, Hutch went on an 8-1 run to lead 19-12 after a Gmur ace. Amarl’s
block closed out Game 2.
Butler scored the first four points of Game
3, but Hutch quickly tied the game at 6-all. A pair of Unruh kills and
single kills by Taylor and Amaral pushed Hutch to a 15-9 lead. Butler got as
close as five at 20-15, but an Amaral kill started a match-closing 10-4 run.
“The last couple of weeks our team’s been
struggling with inconsistency,” Bergkamp said. “Even within one match we’ve
been up and down. Tonight we were pretty solid throughout the whole match.”
The Lady Dragons have nine days off before
traveling to Pratt for a league match on Wednesday, Sept. 26.
Match notes
– The Lady Dragons were able to close out each game with their serve on Game
Point. … The Lady Dragons are now 5-3 in best-of-five matches.
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OTHER QUOTES
Head coach Ronda Shirley
On the offense hitting the ball with big
swings instead of tips and roll shots …
“We were tipping and roll shoting a lot.
That’s not typical of a team of mine. We need to swing hard and learn to hit
the no-so-perfect set strong. I think we are too quick to tip or roll shot
it if it’s not perfect. The hitters needed some confidence that they didn’t
have to have it perfect to put it over.”
On freshman Melissa Gmur and Molly
Bergkamp …
“(Melissa’s ) jump-setting game has been
improving. Her confidence in that area is growing. Molly has been coming
along and being more consistent player and playing really strong. We need
freshmen to step up and start playing better and they are starting to do
that.
Sophomore Sarah Unruh
On rebounding from a tough weekend at West
Plains …
“We just went through a rough time. Every
team goes through it. I think we will come out of it just fine. Hopefully we
will learn from our mistakes.”
On finishing the third game strong …
“ We had it in our minds that no one way
going to beat us. We knew we had to come out for that third game, come out
strong and finish it off in three.”
Freshman Molly Bergkamp
On hitting the ball with power …
“(Coach Shirley’s) been on us a lot, saying
to go up strong every time. With our tips and roll shots they are picking it
up easy and able to run a quicker offense. Our powerful swings are getting
teams off balance. |
