DRAGONS OPEN TRIANGULAR WITH SWEEP OF BETHEL JV

Cameron Letcher had career highs of seven kills on .667 hitting and four total blocks in No. 19 Hutchinson's 3-0 victory over the Bethel College JV on Wednesday at the Sports Arena. (Andrew Carpenter/Blue Dragon Sports Information)

August 23, 2023

Hutchinson CC Sports Information

Sophomores Taniya Golden and Cameron Letcher both hit better than .500 to power the No. 19-ranked Hutchinson Community College volleyball team to a 3-0 sweep of the Bethel College Junior Varsity in Match 1 of the Blue Dragon Triangular on Wednesday at the Sports Arena.

The Blue Dragons improved to 3-2 for the season with their second sweep of 2023, defeating the Threshers 25-12, 25-16, 25-15.

Golden hit .542 with 15 kills on 24 attacks to pace a Blue Dragon offense that collectively hit a season-high .394. Golden added seven digs. Golden had her third double-double of the season adding 10 digs.

Making her first career start, Letcher had career highs of seven kills and a .667 hitting percentage on nine total attacks. Letcher also had a career-high four blocks.

The Blue Dragons out-hit Bethel .394 to a negative-.033. The Dragons had an 8-2 advantage in blocks and tallied 11 service aces.

Sophomore Ashlyn Long had five kills on .400 hitting. Sophomore Alejandra Briseno and freshman McKenzie Murphy had four kills each.

Letcher and Briseno had four block assists each. Murphy added three block assists.

Sophomore setter Giovanna Ravanhani had 32 assists with a pair of kills and a team-high three service aces.

Golden, Isabella Rollandini and Ryleigh Stuhlsatz had two aces each.

Rollandini had a team-high 12 digs. Alondra Velez added six digs.

MeKenna Morgan led Bethel with five kills.

SET 1: The Blue Dragons had an early 10-3 run after a Briseno/Murphy double block gave the Dragons a 10-5 lead. A Long/Murphy double block and a Golden kill upped the lead to 13-7. A Golden kill capped a 6-0 run for a 19-7 lead. The Dragons had another 5-0 run to lead 22-8 after a Ravanhani kill. Bethel then scored four-straight, but Briseno had a kill on Hutchinson's fifth try at set point for a 25-12 win. The Dragons hit .478 in the opening set to Bethel's negative-.056.

SET 2: The Blue Dragons sided out on 13 of 17 chances in the second set while Bethel was only 12 of 24. The Dragons hit .321 in the second and opened an early 12-6 lead after a Briseno/Letcher combo block. Leading 14-11, Long's kill started a 5-0 run for an 19-11 lead after a Thresher attack error. Velez had her only service ace for a 23-14 lead. Golden had kills on the final two points for Hutchinson to close out a 25-16 victory.

SET 3: Hutchinson scored the first five points of the set. Rollandini capped the run with an ace. A Briseno kill make it 11-7 and the lead grew to 10 as another Rollandini ace gave the Blue Dragons a 17-7 lead. The Blue Dragons had four aces in the third set. Back-to-back aces by Stuhlsatz upped the lead to 24-12. Bethel fought off three match points before Murphy's kill ended the match. The Blue Dragons had their lowest attack percentage of the match at .241, but they held the Threshers to only five kills and .000 hitting in the final set.