DRAGONS WIN FIVE-SET THRILLER AGAINST GARDEN CITY

Isabella Rollandini (right) and Catalina Arce (left) celebrate late in the fifth set of Hutchinson's 3-2 KJCCC victory over Garden City on Wednesday at the Sports Arena. (McKenzie Franklin/Blue Dragon Sports Information)

October 25, 2023

Hutchinson CC Sports Information

Playing at home for the first time in three weeks, the Hutchinson Community College volleyball team rallied from down one set to defeat the Garden City Broncbusters in five sets on Wednesday night at the Sports Arena.

The Blue Dragons posted season highs for kills and digs in defeating Garden City 23-25,25-19, 18-25, 25-18, 15-3 on Sophomore Recognition Night.

Hutchinson improved to 23-13 overall and remained in second place in the KJCCC at 10-4. The Blue Dragons travel to first-place Barton at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday in Great Bend. Garden City dropped to 18-12 overall and 8-8 in the league.

The Blue Dragons are now 5-3 in five-set matches this season.

Sophomore outside hitter Taniya Golden led the Blue Dragons with her 18th double-double of the season. She had a match-up 18 kills on .218 hitting with a career-high 21 digs. Now with 510 kills for the season, Golden moved into fifth place on the Blue Dragon single-season kills list. Her 929 career kills are the second most in program history.

Sophomore setter Giovanna Ravanhani had 42 assists and had her eighth double-double of the season with 12 digs. Ravanhani had seven kills on .389 hitting. Ravanhani is now eighth on the Blue Dragon season assist list with 1,152 and eighth on the career assist list with 1,551 assists.

Sophomore middle Anna Dean had 10 kills on .276 hitting. She had three blocks, four digs and a career-high five set assists. Dean moved into the career Top 10 in total blocks with 224 blocks. Her 149 season blocks rank 15th on the single-season list.

Sophomore Ashlyn Long finished with nine kills. Alejandra Briseno had six kills and six digs. McKenzie Murphy had six kills and four blocks.

The Blue Dragons had 61 total kills, the second-highest total this season and finished hitting .188. The Dragons had 7.5 team blocks, a season-high 95 digs and two service aces.

The Dragon defense raised its game in the final two set. Hutchinson had 31 digs over the final two sets and 4.5 blocks in the fifth set alone. The Blue Dragons held Garden City to .003 hitting in the final two sets.

Freshman libero Isabella Rollandini had a career-high 29 digs. Freshman Cataline Arce had eight digs and freshman Jaidynee Vontress had seven digs.

Set 1: The opening set featured 13 ties and five lead changes. Golden had five kills to lead the Dragons, but Garden City countered with five kills each from Appolline Lepuissant and Julia Brazil. A Golden kill tied the set at 10-all. Leading 15-14, the Dragons scored three straight to build an 18-14 lead. Garden City answered back with a 5-1 run and tied the set at 19-all after a Hutchinson attack error. Tied at 21, Garden City took a two-point lead, but a service error and attack error helped the Dragons tie the set at 23. The Busters took the set 25-23.

Set 2: The Blue Dragons out-hit Garden City .234-.045 in the second set. Tied at 5-all, a Murphy kill gave the Dragons the lead for good. A Buster attack error bumped the Dragon lead to 12-9. A Dean kill bumped the Hutchinson lead to 17-11. The Blue Dragons sided out on 16 of 19 chances in the second set. Leading 22-18, an Arce service ace upped the lead to five. Then Ravanhani had a setter dump on match point to give the Dragons a 25-19 victory and knot the match at a set each.

Set 3: Garden City got its offense untracked in the third set. The Busters had 17 kills on .306 hitting in the third set while the Dragons had 14 kills on .200 hitting. The Dragons took an 11-9 lead after a Golden kill. Garden City fought back and led 18-15 after a Tola Maczka ace. Trailing 20-16, a Ravanhani kill slowed the Buster roll, but Garden City took a 2-1 match lead with a 25-18 set victory.

Set 4: The Dragon defense started to take command of the match in the fourth set, bringing up 20 digs in the fourth set alone. Rollandini had eight digs in the set. The Dragons jumped out to a 4-1 lead after a Murphy kill. Leading 9-7, the Dragons went on a 7-0 Rollandini service run to build a 16-7 lead. Garden City hit negative .049 in the fourth set. Hutchinson led 24-16. Garden fought off two set points, but Golden had a kill on the third for a 25-18 win to tie the match at 2-2.

Set 5: The Dragons had an early 3-1 run, but the Busters scored four straight to take a 5-3 lead A Golden kill stopped that run and Garden City maintained the lead through the crossover leading the Dragons 8-6. Hutchinson scored four-straight points with two Briseno kills and a Dean kill to lead 10-8. Tied at 11-all, kills by Briseno and Dean gave the Dragons a 13-11 lead and forced a Garden City timeout. The teams sided out on the final four rallies. The Dragons closed out the match with a Golden kill for a 5-13 set lead.