DRAGONS RALLY TO DEFEAT COLBY IN INTENSE 5-SET BATTLE

Baylee Miller and Morgan Harvey celebrate after Miller's ace serve on match point to complete a five-set comeback victory over Colby on Saturday at the Sports Arena. (Andrew Carpenter/Blue Dragon Sports Information)

October 15, 2022

Hutchinson CC Sports Information

Down two sets to 2 and down 13-12 in the decisive fifth set, the No. 19-ranked Hutchinson Community College Volleyball team rallied for a key Jayhawk West victory over the Colby Trojans on Saturday afternoon at the Sports Arena.

Led by pin hitters Taniya Golden, Baylee Miller and Alejandra Briseno, the Blue Dragons avoided a second-straight home conference loss, rallying to defeat Colby 20-25, 25-23, 15-25, 25-21, 17-15.

The Blue Dragons improve to 23-9 overall and 10-2 in the Jayhawk West. The Blue Dragons have a short turnaround with a Monday home match against Pratt at 6 p.m. at the Sports Arena. The Blue Dragons also complete a regular-season sweep of Colby, which fell to 13-11 overall and 4-9 in the Jayhawk West.

The Blue Dragons are now 3-2 in five-set matches this season.

After the teams split the first two sets and Colby dominated the third set, Golden, Briseno and Miller combined for 11 kills to lead the Dragons to a four-set victory.

Then trailing 13-12 in the fifth set, the Blue Dragons took a timeout. Out of the timeout, Golden had a kill to tie the set at 13. Briseno then had kills at 13-all, 14-all and 15-all before a Miller service ace completed the comeback.

After hitting just .138 in the first four sets, the Blue Dragons had 13 kills and hit .357 in the fifth set.

Golden had 19 kills to lead the Blue Dragons on .212 hitting. Golden had her first career double-double with a career-high 16 digs. Golden added two blocks.

Miller finished with nine kills, 12 digs, two blocks and two service aces.

Briseno, who is battling back from injury, played only three sets and finished with eight kills and hit .312. All eight kills came in the fourth and fifth sets.

The Blue Dragons were out-hit .194-.179, but out-dug the Trojans 79-59. Sophomore Morgan Harvey had a team-high 19 digs. The Dragons had eight team blocks with freshman middle Anna Dean getting two solo blocks and five total blocks.

Sophomore setter Andrea Serrano had 30 assists, seven digs and two of Hutchinson's eight service aces.

Alessia Bergesio had 19 digs, IIlaia Chiericati had 16 kills and Maelie Chupin had 14 kills to lead Colby.

SET 1: The Blue Dragons shot out to a 7-2 lead after a Dean kill. Colby went on a 7-2 run to lead 10-9 after an Anna Gazzerro solo block. Dean and Golden teamed up for a block for a 15-12 Hutchinson lead. The Dragons led 19-15, but saw Colby go on a 10-1 run, including a run of nine-straight points to take the first set. The Dragons hit .069 in the set.

SET 2: The Dragons won the second set despite Colby hitting .333 in the set. The Dragons led 9-7 after a Colby service error. A Dragon attack error capped a 4-0 Trojan run and trailed 11-9. Colby stretched its lead to 19-15 after a Bergesio kill. A Connor kill started a 5-1 Dragon run and the Dragons tied the set at 20-20 on a Miller service ace. Trailing 23-22, Penaflor and Golden had a double block to tie the set, Golden's kill gave the Dragons a set point and a Serrano ace finished off the set and tied the match at 1-1.

SET 3: Little went right for Hutchinson in the third set as Colby jumped out to leads of 7-3, 11-5 and 14-6. The Dragons closed within 16-11 after a Connor kill, but the Trojans scored four unanswered points to assume complete control again. Colby hit .276 in the set while the Blue Dragons hot .036.

SET 4: Briseno started to come to life in the fourth set for the Dragons. Her kill snapped a 4-0 Colby run and cut the Dragon deficit to 11-8. Still down 13-10, the Dragons reeled off five in a row to take a 15-13 lead. Leading 18-16, the Dragons went on a 5-1 run, taking a 23-17 lead. Colby then scored four-straight to pull within 23-21, but Briseno's fourth kill of the set snapped that run and the Dragons won the set on Colby's 10 attack error of the set.

SET 5: The Dragons jumped out to a 5-2 lead, but Colby rallied to knot the set at 6-6. The next six rallies went back-and-fourth for a 9-9 score. Golden had kills on Hutchinson's next three points to lead 12-11, but a service error after a Colby timeout and a Bergesio kill gave Colby a 13-12 lead. The Blue Dragons finally claimed a tremendous scramble point with a Golden kill to knot the score at 13. A Briseno kill gave the Dragons a match point. Colby fought off two match points. Briseno had a kill off the block for a 16-15 lead and Miller closed out the match for a 17-15 victory.