STRONG SERVING IGNITES DRAGONS TO SWEEP OF LAMAR

Hutchinson CC Sports Information

McCOOK, Nebraska – Dealing with a slow offensive start in Saturday morning's McCook Labor Day Tournament match with Lamar Community College, the Hutchinson Community College volleyball team got a spark from the service line against the Runnin' Lopes.

Seven different Blue Dragon players racked up a season-high 13 aces as Hutchinson defeated Lamar 25-20, 25-23, 25-11 to improve to 2-1 in the McCook Tournament. The Blue Dragons play North Platte Community College in the final match of the tournament at 3 p.m. on Saturday.

The Blue Dragons climbed back to the .500 mark at 3-3 with the victory.

Freshman libero Clara Oliveira tied a season high with four aces to lead the Dragons. Lauren Vazquez, Sorielys Dominguez and McKenzye Williamson had two aces each.

The Blue Dragons fell behind 6-0 to start the match, but turned things around with six aces in the opening set. Once the offense got going, the Blue Dragons hit .231 for the match.

Outside hitters Atlyn Proctor and Alondra Villanueva had nine kills each to lead Hutchinson against Lamar. Proctor hit .360 with nine kills and no errors on 25 attacks. She added two digs, two total blocks and a service ace.

Villanueva had nine kills on 27 attacks with seven digs and an ace.

Setter Alexandra Garcia had 28 assists with eight digs an ace and had four kills on four attacks.

Oliveira had a match-high 17 digs.

Set 1: Trailing early 6-0 and 8-3, back-to-back aces from Vazquez ignited the Dragons. Kills from Jaylynn McNeill and Villanueva and a Dominguez ace pulled the Dragons within 9-8. The Dragons trailed 14-12 when two Oliveira aces, a Kierny Follmer/McNeill blocks and a Proctor kill were part of a 6-0 run that gave the Dragons an 18-14 lead. Leading 22-20, Villanueva had a kill, Mattie Galliher and Villanueva teamed up for a block and Galliher smacked down an over-pass for a 25-20 Blue Dragon victory. Lamar out-hit Hutchinson 9-8 in the set, but the Dragons out-blocked Lamar 3-1 and out-aced the Runnin' Lopes 3-1.

Set 2: The Blue Dragons opened leads of 8-4 and 10-6 in the second set. Lamar went on a 6-0 run to take a 12-10 lead. The run was stopped by a Garcia setter dump for a kill. A Follmer kill and Lamar attack error gave Hutchinson a 15-13 lead. Lamar countered with a 7-2 run to take a 20-17 lead. The Dragons had a pair of 4-0 runs surrounding a Lamar 3-0 run to close the set. The Dragons led 21-20 after two Villanueva kills and Lamar attack error. Lamar then took a 23-21 lead. A Galliher kill gave the Dragons a needed sideout, then back-to-back kills from Proctor and an ace serve from Villanueva capped a late Dragon rally for a 25-23 win.

Set 3: The Blue Dragons took immediate charge in the third set, scoring on 13 of the first 16 rallies of the set. The Dragons hit .375 in the second and have five more ace serves. Two more Oliveira aces upped the Dragon lead to 19-6. Villanueva and Proctor had three kills each and Hutchinson held an opponent to a season set-low 11 points to close out its first sweep of the season.