First Touch – HutchCC Volleyball takes win over Garden City

By: Greta Klein
Sports Editor

After playing on the road for the past five games, the Hutchinson Community College volleyball team returned home to defeat the Garden City Broncbusters on Monday at the Sports Arena. The Blue Dragons went three sets, 29-27, 25-22, 25-19.

Early during the first set, the Blue Dragons found themselves in deficits of 6-2 and 10-5 but made a comeback and tied it at 12-12. Then they tied the score again at 27-27. Getting her third kill of the set, freshman Atlyn Proctor took the Blue Dragons up 28-27. As the Broncbusters were feeling the pressure, an attack error was made to have the Blue Dragons win the first set 29-27.

“It’s so important that our focus was the first touch,” Blue Dragons coach Delice Downing said. “That the serve, the passing in the passing lanes, the first touch on the block, first touch on the dig (was so important). That was our focus because (during) conference games, it can go either way and if we’re controlling the pass and we provide the serve, usually the match goes in your way.”

The second set was much like the first regarding lead changes and rallying. The Blue Dragons took the momentum from the first set and took the lead early 10-6. Garden City made a rally, going on a five-point run and putting the Busters in the lead 11-10. The Blue Dragons answered by taking the lead back 15-11. After Downing took a timeout, the team closed the set 25-22 with a kill from Proctor and an attack error by Garden City. The Blue Dragons’ defense was on point during the set where they held the Brocbusters to a .000 hitting percentage.

“I feel like all the kills individually, fires me up as well as fires the team up hella,” Proctor said “We all just get hyped off the kills. And we just broke the curse of the loss so I’m feeling great.”

Continuing the momentum, the Blue Dragons jumped out taking the lead 7-3, and then pushed the lead to 13-5. The Broncbusters went on an 8-2 run and got it within two points towards the end of the set but just couldn’t keep up against the Blue Dragons. The set ended 25-19 when sophomore Shelbi Wilson dumped the ball to assist a win for the Blue Dragons after a seven-game losing streak.

“I feel we needed this one after being away for several days,” sophomore McKenzie Murphy said. “It’s good to have a win and get back on the winning board. I think we’re going to do great going into conference (play).

The Blue Dragons are now 13-17 overall and 4-5 in the Jayhawk Conference. The team is on the road to Cloud County for a 3 p.m. match on Saturday in Concordia.

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