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By Steve Carpenter
HCC Sports Information Director
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
“Fill The Arena Night” did what it was
supposed to do and the 16th-ranked Hutchinson Community College volleyball
team did what they wanted to do on Wednesday night against No. 12 Seward
County.
A school-record crowd of 1,350 saw the Lady
Dragons sweep Seward County 30-27, 30-21, 30-16 in a pivot Jayhawk West
match that also has direct implications on Region VI Tournament seeding.
HCC (20-11 overall) won its 20th match on
Wednesday, the ninth-straight season the Lady Dragons have posted a 20-win
season. The Lady Dragons (5-0 Jayhawk West, 2-0 Region) also extended their
Jayhawk West winning streak to 29 straight matches.
The Lady Dragons had a little incentive going
into Wednesday’s match. After going 3-1 against three nationally-ranked
teams last weekend in the Tyson Foods Invitational, HCC didn’t move up in
the latest NJCAA national rankings, while Seward County (24-6, 5-1, 3-1)
moved up two spots to 12th.
“I thought we deserved to at least move up a
little bit,” said HCC sophomore outside hitter Sarah Unruh, who had a
team-high 13 kills, hitting a .366. “Sometimes it doesn’t work out how out
you want.”
HCC head coach Ronda Shirley said her players
had something to prove after earning victories against No. 15 San Jacinto
and No. 17 Northeastern Junior College and taking a game from No. 6 and
defending national champion Iowa Western last weekend.
“It gave the girls the fire to come out and
prove themselves,” Shirley said. “The rankings to me aren’t as important as
much as a match like this. I would rather win a very important conference
and regional match than move up three spots and lose.”
Both teams had 38 total kills, but the Lady
Dragons had a decisive advantage in blocking. HCC had a 20-7 blocking
advantage. All-American Ludmila Amaral had 11 total blocks, but the entire
Lady Dragon front line stepped up big against Seward’s big 6-foot-2 outside
hitter Dan Yang, who finished with 19 kills. Setter Melissa Gmur had seven
blocks and sophomore Nikki Cannon had four blocks.
“We didn’t have as good a passing and floor
defense game, but we took them out of their game a little,” Shirley said.
“We picked up on our blocking. We played very strong against a very strong
team.”
Unruh had several huge kills from the
outside, putt the Lady Dragons on her shoulders in the third game; hitting a
.667 with six kills on nine attacks Freshman Molly Bergkamp had her sixth
double-double of the season with 12 kills and 17 digs, hitting a .250. Gmur
had 33 assists. Amaral was held to six kills on 17 attacks, hitting a .176.
“Sarah’s taking such a leadership role. I’m
so proud of her,” Shirley said. “She gives us a spark. Melissa is setting a
much smarter game and commanding the court more. Molly, there’s a lot being
asked of her. She’s playing all the way around and being doing not only on
hitting, but on the block, on serving, on passing on digging. We are asking
a lot out of her and she is stepping up to the challenge and she will
continue to blossom.”
There were six ties and two lead changes in
the opening game. The Lady Dragons hit a .225, but had to contend with Yang,
who had seven kills and Jelena Simic, who had five kills in the opening
game. Tied at 18-all, Bergkamp’s kill started a 6-0 run and ended it with a
stuff block for a 24-18 lead. The Saints pulled within 29-27, but Unruh’s
kill gave Hutch the opener.
Seward County dominated the first 10 points
of Game 2, building an 8-2 lead and getting three kills from Yang during
that opening juncture. HCC quickly turned it around, holding the powerful
Seward hitter to just three kills the rest of the game. The Lady Dragons
tied it at 14-all on an Amaral kills and took the lead for good on an Amanda
Stucky ace. After Seward built it’s six-point lead, HCC outscored the Saints
28-13 the rest of the way to take a 2-0 match lead.
The third game went much like the second with
the Lady Dragons pulling away. Seward County led 10-9, but HCC finished off
the match with a 21-6 run, hitting a sizzling .371 in the third game (16
kills, 35 attacks, three errors).
The Lady Dragons have a week off before
traveling to No. 9 Barton County next Wednesday night.
Match notes
– The Lady Dragons are now 6-9 against nationally ranked competition. … The
last four matches for HCC have been against ranked foes. The next four come
against ranked competition with Barton County coming up twice, Frank
Phillips and Western Nebraska coming up in the next 11 days. … Freshman
middle LaToya Taylor missed her fourth-straight match because of an injury.
… HCC is now 19-1 when winning Game 1 of a match. … The old attendance
record was 1,200, which was set in 2004 against Barton County.
<HCC-SEWARD COUNTY PHOTO GALLERY>
OTHER QUOTES
Head Coach Ronda Shirley
On the record crowd …
“It was awesome. That’s what’s it’s all
about. Getting support from the other teams and the student body. We played
on supporting all the sports. If the student body can keep rallying round
each of the sports, it makes the teams want to fight even more. The crowd
was really into the match.”
Sophomore Sarah Unruh
On the record crowd …
“The crowd was amazing. It was very
appreciated.”
Sophomore Ludmila Amaral
On the weekend of preparation for
Seward County …
“With the hard weekend we had, it helped us
today. Seward is improved a lot from last year.”
On the intensity of Coach Shirley …
“She’s intense all the time. Tonight she was
more because it was a conference game. She always wants us to play hard and
she’s right.”
On defending Seward County’s Dan Yang …
“We tried to make aggressive serves. If we
didn’t their setter would go to her. The serving was good and it was easier
to get her timed.” |
