BLUE DRAGONS SWEEP PRATT TO ADAVANCE TO REGIONAL SEMIS

Hutchinson CC Sports Information

The Hutchinson Community College volleyball team hit better than .300 for the first time in nine matches and earned a Region VI Tournament sweep of Pratt on Wednesday.

Hutchinson hit .343 on 47 kills to defeat Pratt 25-18, 25-20, 25-15 in the Region VI Tournament opening round at the Sports Arena. Hutch won its eighth consecutive regional opening-round match dating back to 2010.

The third-seeded Blue Dragons improve to 18-15 overall and advance to Sunday's Region VI semifinals at the Green House in Liberal. The Dragons will face Colby at 3 p.m. on Sunday in the second semifinal. Top-seeded Seward County will play Barton at 1 p.m. in the first semifinal.

The Blue Dragons hit better than .300 in two of the three sets, while holding Pratt to .236 hitting for the match. Hutch had a side-out percentage of 67 percent to Pratt's 47 percent. The only sizeable Beaver run was a 7-1 spurt in the second set with gave Pratt its largest lead at any time during the match.

Sophomore Elena Takova had her third match of hitting .400 or better and first since September 15 with .435 hitting on a match-high 13 kills.

Sophomore Lexi Hogan snapped a nine-match straight of hitting less than .300 with .364 hitting on 11 kills. She also had five digs.

Freshman Eden Hiebert hit .292 on nine kills and Delilah Vigil had seven kills on .455 hitting. Tara Davis had five kills on .364 hitting.

Sophomore setter Cassidy Crites had a career-high 30 assists to lead the Blue Dragons to 47 kills and only 11 errors on 105 attacks. Sophomore setter Payton Gawith had a career- and match-high 15 kids with three ace serves and nine set assists.

Sophomore Liberal Raychel Reed had 11 digs.

Elise Baranco had eight kills and Rylee Turner added seven for Pratt, which had 37 kills and 12 errors on 106 swings. Libero Naomi Warren had a match-high 17 digs.

The Blue Dragons had 3.5 team blocks to Pratt's 3.0.

Set 1: The Blue Dragons hit .351 and sided out at 78 percent in the opening set, but couldn't pull away from the Beavers until late in the set. The Dragons led 9-5 after a Hiebert ace, but the Beavers chipped away and after a Baranco kill and Baranco/Olivia Hessman double block, the set was tied at 14. A Pratt attack error stopped the run and after a Crites ace, the Dragons had the lead for good. Leading 17-16, back-to-back kills by Vigil and Hogan sparked a set-clinching 8-2 run. The Dragons impressively closed the set when Davis was a joust at the net and Hiebert pounded home a kill on the final two rallies for the win.

Set 2: Hutch led 6-4 when Pratt went on hits 7-1 run to build a 12-7 lead. Back-to-back Takova kills stymied the Beaver run, but the Dragons still trailed 14-10 after a Turner kill. The Dragons then reeled off seven points in a row, the fourth was a Gawith ace that tied the set at 14. A Davis/Hogan double block and Pratt attack error capped the surge and Hutch led 17-14. Pratt kept things close, ultimately trailing 22-20. But a service error, attack error and Vigil kill on set point gave the Dragons a 2-0 lead. Hutch out-hit Pratt .282-.211 in the second set.

Set 3: Hutch hit a match-high .414 in the third set with 13 kills and one attack error. Pratt hit .212 with give attack errors. A Hiebert kill gave hutch a 12-3 lead in the third, before Pratt started to creep back into the set, winning 7 of the next 10 rallies to pull with 15-10. A Hogan kill, Gawith ace and another Hogan kill pulled momentum back to the Hutchinson side of the hit. Hutch led at that point 18-10. Leading 20-15, Hutch scored the final points on a Pratt net violation, back-to-back Hiebert kills, a Hiebert/Vigil double block and Vigil kill on match point.