DRAGONS RALLY FROM DOWN 2 SETS TO DEFEAT DODGE CITY

Taniya Golden (right) had a career-high 27 kills and Anna Dean (left) led the Blue Dragons to a season-high 20 team blocks in Hutchinson's five-set road victory on Saturday at Dodge City. (McKenzie Franklin/Blue Dragon Sports Information)

September 30, 2023

Hutchinson CC Sports Information

DODGE CITY – The Hutchinson Community College volleyball team rallied from down two sets on Saturday to earn a big Jayhawk Conference road victory at Dodge City.

The Blue Dragons' league-leading block got going in the final three sets to aid Hutchinson's rally for a 21-25, 20-25, 25-16, 25-15, 15-10 KJCCC victory over the Conquistadors at the DC3 Student Events Center.

Hutchinson kept pace in the Jayhawk Conference standings at 7-2 in league play and 16-8 overall. Dodge City is 12-10 overall and 3-4 in the league. The Blue Dragons travel to Seward County on Wednesday.

This was the seventh time in team history that the Blue Dragons came back from down two sets to win a match. The last time came against Cloud County on October 2, 2021.

The Blue Dragon rally was sparked by a dominant block over the final three sets. Hutchinson racked up a season-high 20 blocks with 13 blocks coming in sets three through five. Four different Blue Dragons had five or more total blocks led by Anna Dean's eight block assists. Alejandra Briseno had a career-high seven blocks. McKenzie Murphy had six block assists and Taniya Golden had two solo blocks and three block assists. Cameron Letcher and Callie Muff added four block assists each.

The 20 team blocks ties for the second most ever in Blue Dragon single-match history. The Dragons also had 20 blocks in a five-set match against Pratt in 2011.

Dodge City hit .268 in the first two sets of the match. Once the Blue Dragon block got going, the Conquistadors hit only .001. Dodge City hit .118 for the match

The Blue Dragons hit .296 for the match, including .344 in sets three through five. They out-blocked Dodge City 20-5. Digs were tied at 70. Hutchinson had four service aces and seven receiving errors. Dodge City had seven aces and four reception errors.

Golden led the Blue Dragon offense with career highs of 27 kills and .404 hitting on 57 attacks. He had her 14th double-double of the season and 17th of her career with 13 digs.

Briseno hit .324 on seven kills. Dean had seven kills and hit .154. Murphy hit .357 with six kills. Muff had five kills.

Sophomore setter Giovanna Ravanhani posted a career-high 48 assists with nine digs and three kills.

Libero Isabella Rollandini had a team-high 16 digs.

SET 1: The Blue Dragons led 10-8 in the opening set after a Golden kill and Murphy/Golden double block. Dodge City reeled off four in a row to take a two-point led, but a Golden ace serve tied the set at 12. Tied at 13, Dodge City took control with a 4-0 run. A Golden kill and Dodge attack error pulled Hutchinson within 22-20, but the Conquistadors finished out the set for a 25-21 win.

SET 2: Dodge City had quick lets of 5-1 and 7-2, which forced an early Dragon timeout. Dodge led 11-6 before kills from Murphy and Letcher and a Golden solo block pulled the Dragons within 11-9. The Dragons finally tied the set at 18-all on a Dodge City attack error, but the Conquistadors won 7 of the final 9 rallies for a 25-20 win and a 2-0 lead in the match.

SET 3: Tied at 4-all, a Muff/Letcher double block started a 6-1 Dragon run to build a 10-5 lead. The lead grew to 15-9 on a Dodge attack error and went to 18-9 on back-to-back Golden kills. The Blue Dragons hit .345 and had five team blocks in the set as the Dragons earned their first set win, 25-16.

SET 4: Leading 9-7, A Briseno kill started a 6-0 Dragon run. Briseno had two kills as well as Muff and Dean and Golden added a back-row kill for a 15-7 lead. Hutchinson hit .424 in the set and built leads as large at 20-9. Consecutive kills by Letcher and Dean got the Dragons to set point at 24-14 and Muff tooled the block to win the set at 25-15 and tie the match at 2-2.

SET 5: The Blue Dragons opened the fifth set on a 7-0 run, which started with a Dean/Briseno double block. Briseno had a back-row kill and Golden had three kills to take a 7-0 lead. Dodge City pull within 9-5, but the Dragons scored five unanswered points to have 10 match points in their back pocket. Dodge City erased five of those set points, but a Letcher kill completed the comeback with a 15-10 victory. Hutchinson out-hit Dodge City .250-.053 in the set.