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HCC Sports Information
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
The No.
14-Hutchinson Community College volleyball team broke out a new
weapon on Wednesday night in a 3-0 Jayhawk West sweep of Dodge City
at the Sports Arena.
Several players
began to use the jump serve and did so effectively as the Lady
Dragons defeated Dodge City 25-17, 25-20, 25-15.
Freshman Kate
Morrell had a season-high eight service aces and the Lady Dragons
had a season-high 13 aces against the Conquistadors.
“I would always do
it in high school, but our coach would never let us do it during
games, so I’ve been practicing it,” Morrell said. “Coach Shirley
said ‘why practice it if you aren’t going to use it in games,’ so
she kind of decided for me. It seemed to work out for me.”
Sophomore Karol
Marins had a team-high 11 kills and two aces. Sophomore Carol Logato
had nine kills and two ace serves. Morrell had three kills, three
block assists and eight ace serves. Sophomore Debbie Ohl had five
kills and two blocks.
HCC head coach Ronda
Shirley sent another starting line-up, going to the 6-2 offense
against Dodge City.
“Part of my job is
finding a core group of kids who want to go out and work hard all
the time and enjoy playing with each other on the floor,” Shirley
said. “We might take some lumps with some new kids on the floor, but
with time and experience, we can be there at the end. We have a
talented freshman group. We have to challenge them now, so they will
be ready at the end when it really matters.”
Added sophomore
Carol Logato: “We are trying to have more fun playing. We love to
play. Sometimes we get too serious. We have to have fun doing this.
We went to be confident and have fun at the same time.”
A pair of ace serves
by Morrell helped HCC to an early 9-3 lead in the opening set. Dodge
City pulled within three twice, getting as close at 16-13, but a 5-1
run with Ohl supplying two kills and a stuff block pushed the lead
back out to a comfortable margin.
The Lady Dragons had
another quick start in the second set, building a 10-3 advantage
after an Ohl block. Dodge City once again chipped away, pulling
within 20-17. But again, HCC held the Conquistadors (4-9, 1-2) at
arm’s length and a Marins kill ended the set, giving Hutchinson a
2-0 match lead.
Tied a five-all in
the third, Morrell found her stride from the service line, blasting
four consecutive ace serves during a 5-0 run to pushed the Lady
Dragons on top for good. The lead grew to as many as 12 points on
another Morrell ace and kills by Logato and Ohl.
The Lady Dragons
will travel to Hesston College on at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday night.
The match can be heard on the Blue Dragon Sports Network. The
internet broadcast will begin at 6:15 p.m. After that, the Lady
Dragons will have eight days off before next weekend’s Caribbean Tan
Invitational at the Sports Arena.
PHOTO GALLERY
OTHER QUOTES
Head Coach Ronda
Shirley
On the addition
of the jump serves from several players …
“They will do it at
practice and I was asking why they don’t do it in games? I told them
you just have to start. I’m hoping that this boosted their
confidence because they all did really good. With Kate, it’s not
just a ‘I hope it gets over’ jump serve. She’s got some power behind
it. With eight aces they first time she pulls it out, she’s only
going to get better with it. Logato and bring it and with Emme and
Lindsay staying out there with it, we can add some power to our
defense by starting with a strong serve.”
On the upcoming
eight-day break …
I hope so. Part of
me is a little nervous with starting with a new lineup. We went have
a lot of game situation. But we need a break. We haven’t had more
than one day of a break since we started. They we have to prepare
for a tough tournament.
Freshman Kate
Morrell
On the overall
play of the team …
“Coach told us that
we needed to relax and just play together as a team. We all know how
to play the game, we just need to play it and not over-think
things.”
On the upcoming
eight-day break …
“I think it will be
good. It will be nice to get away for a couple of days and clear our
heads for the next week.”
Sophomore Carol
Logato
On the addition
of the jump serves from several players …
“We’ve been
practicing it. They’ve been getting better. We need jump servers so
our serving is strong. We want to kill the serve and not be killed
by the serve.” |
