DRAGONS DROP SEASON OPENER TO BUSTERS IN 4 SETS

Sophomore Jenna Thorne had a double-double with 10 kills and 12 digs in the Blue Dragons' 3-1 loss to Garden City on Monday night at the Sports Arena. (Steve Carpenter/Blue Dragon Sports Information)

January 25, 2021

Hutchinson CC Sports Information

GARDEN CITY – Hutchinson Community College head volleyball coach Delice Downing had her long-awaited Blue Dragon debut spoiled on Monday night by the Garden City Broncbusters.

The Blue Dragons had issues siding outs throughout the match and Garden City produced several long scoring runs as the Busters defeated Hutchinson 3-1 (14-25, 23-25, 25-21, 20-25) in the season and Jayhawk West opener at Conestoga Arena.

Hutchinson saw a 38-match winning streak against Garden City snapped. The last Broncbuster win over the Blue Dragons came in Garden City on Sept. 14, 2001. Garden City also prevented the Blue Dragons from collecting all-time program victory No. 1,100.

Sophomore Jenna Thorne and freshman Shadee Briggs both had double-doubles in their first matches of the season.

Thorne had a team-high 10 kills and a career-best 21 digs to lead the Blue Dragons. She also had two service aces. Briggs finished with 11 kills, 10 digs and one ace serve

Freshman Shelby Murrell finished with five kills and four block assists. Freshman Kristina Head had three kills

Sophomore setter Chloe Price was next in kills with three. She also had 13 assists, nine digs and three service aces. Freshman libero Shelby Reeder finished with a team-high 18 digs.

Garden City had 57 kills to the Blue Dragons' 37. Hutchinson hit .129 as a team. Hutch out-blocked Garden City 10-6 and the Blue Dragons finished with nine service aces.

The Broncbusters took control of the first set with an early 4-0 run to break a 5-5 tie. Then leading 11-9, the Busters reeled off five in a row for a seven-point lead.

The Blue Dragons had late leads of 17-15 and 20-19 in the second set and had to rally from a 23-20 deficit with a 3-0 run to knot the set at 23. Garden City scored the final two points of the set to take a 2-0 lead in the match.

Hutchinson stayed alive with a victory in the third set. The Dragons trailed 12-11, but went on their longest run of the match of 6-0 to take a 17-12 lead. Garden City got within three points three times, but a Buster service error gave the Blue Dragons the set.

The Blue Dragons got off to a great start in the fourth after a Sequoia Fail kill gave Hutch a 5-3 lead. But the Blue Dragons sideout issues cropped up again as Garden City went on a decisive 8-0 run and an 11-5 Hutch deficit. A Briggs ace cut the Dragon margin to 13-9 and a Briggs kill on a Buster overpass capped a 5-1 Dragon run and cut the Garden lead to 19-16. Garden City then scored four in a row to take full control of the set.

The Blue Dragons sided out only 46.5 percent in the match.

The 0-1 Blue Dragons return to the court on Thursday night for a 6 p.m. Jayhawk West match against the Pratt Beavers. Garden City improves to 3-0 (1-0 KJCCC West).