BLUE DRAGONS UPSET NJCAA’S NO. 3 AND 1 TEAMS

Sophomore Baylee Miller combined for 39 kills to lead the Blue Dragons to five-set victories over No. 3 MSU-West Plains and No. 1 Iowa Western on Saturday at the Reiver Classic in Council Bluffs, IA. (Sammi Carpenter/Blue Dragon Sports Information)

August 20, 2022

Hutchinson CC Sports Information

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – Day 2 of the 2022 volleyball season turned out to be historic for the Hutchinson Community College volleyball team.

A few hours after Hutchinson upended No. 3-ranked Missouri State-West Plains in five sets at the Reiver Classic on Saturday, the Blue Dragons took down the defending national champion and preseason No. 1-ranked Iowa Western Reivers – also in five sets – on their home court.

Led by a huge effort from sophomore Baylee Miller, the Blue Dragons rallied from a set down to defeat the No. 3-ranked Grizzlies 23-25, 25-18, 18-25, 25-21, 16-14 for their first victory of the season.

The Blue Dragons turned right around to play Iowa Western. Again, down 2-1, the Blue Dragons rallied to knock off the top-ranked Reivers 25-19, 19-25, 22-25, 25-18, 15-9.

Facing four nationally ranked opponents on opening weekend – the Dragons lost 3-2 to No. 19 Indian Hills and 3-0 to No. 12 Jefferson College on Friday – Hutchinson went 2-2 at the Reiver Classic. The Blue Dragons open the 2022 home season with three matches on Monday at the Sports Arena – 4 p.m. against the Ottawa University JV, 6 p.m. against Neosho County and 8 p.m. against the Bethel College JV.

The victory over No. 3 West Plains was the first time the Blue Dragons defeated a team ranked in the national Top 3 since a 3-0 victory over No. 3 Seward County in the 2017 Region VI Tournament championship game in Liberal.

About three hours later, the Blue Dragons topped that achievement with the program's first-ever victory over a team ranked No. 1 in the NJCAA Division I rankings. Hutchinson does have a win over a No. 1-ranked program, which came in 2006 against NJCAA Division II top-ranked Cowley, a 3-0 win.

IOWA WESTERN RECAP
The victory over Iowa Western snapped a 15-match losing streak to the Reivers. The last Hutchinson victory over Iowa Western came in 2003. This was the fourth match that the Blue Dragons faced Iowa Western with the Reivers ranked No. 1 in series history.

The Blue Dragons used a balanced offense and strong effort from the service line against Iowa Western.

Sophomore Sophie Connor led the Blue Dragons with a career-high 17 kills and Miller added 16 kills. Freshman Taniya Golden and Alejandra Briseno had eight kills each.

From the service line, sophomore Morgan Harvey tallied a career-high five service aces. Freshman Perrine Blanc added four aces.

Hutchinson won the opening set, but Iowa Western won the next two.

The Reivers had several early leads in the fourth set. A Connor kill knotted the set at 7-all. A Miller kill started a 7-2 Hutchinson run. The Dragons took a 16-11 lead when a Golden free ball landed in the deep right corner for a kill. Iowa Western pulled within 17-15, but the Dragons closed the set on an 8-3 run for a 25-18 victory.

The Blue Dragons never trailed in the fifth set. Leading 8-6, freshman setter Giovana Ravanhani scored on a perfect setter dump. Harvey then dropped an ace for a 10-6 lead. Then leading with 12-8, the Dragons scored three of the set's final four points to close out the victory.

Ravanhani had 23 assists and sophomore setter Andrea Serrano had 20 assists for the Dragons. Briseno and Perrine had 12 digs each. Blondie Penaflor had two solo blocks to lead the Blue Dragons.

MSU-WEST PLAINS RECAP
For the second time over the weekend, Miller led the Blue Dragons with a career-high number of kills.

Miller helped the Blue Dragons snap a four-match losing stream to the Grizzlies – the last Hutchinson win over West Plains came in 2019 – with a career-high 23 kills. Miller tied for the sixth-most kills in a five-set match and tied for the 11th-most kills in Blue Dragon single-match history.

Briseno had 14 kills and Golden added 13 kills. Freshman Anna Dean had nine kills and Connor added eight kills.

The Blue Dragons won the second set, but trailed 2-1 after three sets.

The Dragons led early in the fourth set 4-3 and opened six-point leads three different times. West Plains cut the lead to two points, but the Dragons finished off the set with a Golden Kill on the fourth set point for a 25-21 win.

Hutchinson built a 9-5 lead in the fifth set, but saw the Grizzlies reel off six unanswered points to take a 10-9 lead. Penaflor's kill on an over-pass snapped that streak. Hutchinson scored four in a row, taking a 13-10 lead on back-to-back Connor kills. West Plains rallied to tie the set at 13-all and again at 14-all. Golden had a tip for a kill for a 15-14 lead, then the Dragons threw up a triple block on match point to close out the victory.