BLUE DRAGONS FALL TO NO. 7 COLBY IN STRAIGHT SETS

Hutchinson CC Sports Information

The Hutchinson Community College volleyball team fell in straight sets to the No. 7-ranked Colby Trojans on Wednesday night at the Sports Arena.

The Blue Dragons lost 25-19, 25-20, 25-17 in a KJCCC matchup.

The Blue Dragons fell to 5-5 overall and 1-2 in the KJCCC. The Blue Dragons are home against Garden City at 6 p.m. on Saturday at the Sports Arena. Colby improved to 9-2 overall and 3-0 in conference play.

Sophomores Jaylynn McNeill and Atlyn Proctor led the Blue Dragons with seven kills each against Colby.

McNeill hit .227 on 22 attacks and had a season-high five block assists. Proctor hit .028 on 36 attacks. Alondra Villanueva had five kills on 19 swings.

The Blue Dragons hit .031 for the match on 24 kills. Colby hit .170 with 36 kills. The Blue Dragons out-blocked the Trojans 8-4. Colby had 13 service aces to Hutchinson's five and out-dug the Blue Dragons 46-43.

Sorielys Dominguez had two service aces for the Blue Dragons. Libero Clara Oliveira had a team-high 12 digs. Kierny Follmer and Mattie Gallaher had four block assists each.

Alexandra Garcia had 13 assists and Angela Reupena had eight assists.

Karlotta Kattai had 13 kills to lead Colby.

SET 1: Nether team had great offensive numbers in the opening set – Colby hit .121 and sided out at 47 percent. The Blue Dragons hit a -.081 and sided out at 36 percent. Colby had five service aces in the first set to the Dragons' 3. Tied at 4-all, Colby went on a 4-0 run. A Trojan attack error pulled the Blue Dragons within 11-10. Back-to-back Hutchinson errors upped the Colby lead to 16-11 and the Dragons took a timeout. Proctor had three-straight kills to pull within 17-15 and a Colby hitting error got the Dragons within 18-17. Colby closed out the set with a 7-2 run.

SET 2: The Blue Dragons trailed 6-3 early in the second set and fought back to tie the set at 10-all on a Villanueva kill. McNeill followed with a kill to give the Dragons their first lead of the match at 11-10 and the Hutchinson lead grew to 15-12 after a Colby hitting error. The Trojans then reeled off six unanswered points to take an 18-15 lead. At 18-16, a Dragon error started what turned into a 7-4 run to close out the set for Colby. The Dragons had 11 kills to Colby's 10 in the set, but the Trojans tacked on four more aces.

SET 3: Colby had its best offensive set of the match, hitting .216 in the third set. Hutchinson hit only .062. Tied at 4-all, Colby scored on 6 of the next 9 rallies to build a 10-7 lead. The Dragons stayed within striking distance and pulled within 16-14 after a McKenzye Williamson ace serve. Then a double block from McNeill and Mattie Galliher got the Dragons within 16-15. Colby closed with a 9-2 run, getting ace serve No. 13 on match point.