HEAD COMES ALIVE TO POWER DRAGONS PAST PIRATES

Freshman Kristina Head comes alive with eight kills and six ace serves to lead the Blue Dragon Volleyball Team to a sweep of Independence on Monday at the Sports Arena. (Photo by Bob Hunter)

March 8, 2021

Hutchinson CC Sports Information

Just when the Hutchinson Community College volleyball team's Sophomore Recognition Night was starting to looking like a grind, freshman Kristina Head honored the five Blue Dragon sophomores by carrying them to a Jayhawk West sweep on Monday night at the Sports Arena.

With Hutchinson up a set, but trailing Independence 15-13 in the second, Head took over the match and led the Dragons to a 25-10, 25-17, 25-13 victory.

Hutchinson improves to 15-6 overall and 8-3 in the Jayhawk West. The Blue Dragons turn right around and play Garden City at 6 p.m. on Tuesday in a make-up match at the Sports Arena. Independence falls to 0-14, 0-11.

After sophomores Yuleishka Hernandez, Emily Dyer, Myracle Lettries, Chloe Price and Jenna Thorne were honored before the match, the Blue Dragons dominated the opening set, closing the Pirates out with a 14-2 run.

The second set was much different as the Pirates put together a 6-2 run to lead 12-11 and had a 15-13 lead after back-to-back Bianca Brierre solo blocks. That's when Head took over the match. She had three kills and a service ace as Hutch answered the Pirate challenge with a 12-2 run to win the second set.

From the point that Hutchinson trailed 15-13 in the second set, the Blue Dragons scored 37 of the match's final 52 points. Head was the catalyst with eight kills, three block assists and three service aces over that span of points.

Head finished the match with eight kills, four block assists and a career single-match high of six service aces to lead the Dragon offense.

Shadee Briggs shook off a slow start and also finished with eight kills. Thorne finished with seven and Taegan Larsen had five kills.

The Dragons had 36 kills to Indy's 20. The Pirates also hit a minus .018 for the match with 20 kills and 21 attack errors.

Price had 28 assists and eight digs running the Blue Dragon offense. Price also had eight digs. Libero Shelby Reeder had a match-high 14 digs.

Brierre had seven kills and Amelia Maulsby had six kills for the Pirates.

Head also played a big part in Hutch's first-set win, doing some from the service line. With the Blue Dragons leading only 11-8, Thorne had a kill, and the Head reeled off three-straight aces to force a Pirate timeout with Hutch leading 15-8. Briggs added a back-row kill and the Pirates had 1 of 8 attack errors to complete 6-0 Hutch run for a 17-8 lead. Larsen had four kills and Thorne had three in the first set as Hutchinson outscored Independence 14-2 to win the first set.

Hutch led the second set 11-8 when the Pirates scored four in a row to lead 12-11 on a Brierre kill. Her back-to-back blocks gave the Pirates a 15-13 lead. After a Pirate service error, Briggs dropped one of Hutch's 10 service aces, Head had back-to-back kills and Price dropped a setter dump for an 18-15 Dragon lead and force an Indy timeout. Head terminated on a Pirate overpass for a 19-15 lead and her fourth ace gave the Dragons 21-16 lead. The Dragons scored 12 of the final 14 points to claim the set 25-17.

Head had two kills, a block assist and ace in the Dragon's initial 8-1 surge to start the third set. The Dragons continued to stretch the lead from there. A Briggs' kill made it 12-3. Reeder served one of Hutch's four aces for a 15-5 lead. Another Briggs' kill made it 19-7. The aces by Head and later by Kersti Nelson made it 24-10. Indy scored the next three points, but ended the match on a service error. Head and Briggs had four kills each in the third set.