Broncbusters push No. 12 Seward County; come up short
By Mike Pilosof
Photo by Adam Shrimplin
Garden City, KS-Questionable calls ruled the match, and it quite possibly cost Garden City a chance to knockout conference powerhouse Seward County on Monday night.
Seyun Park had 13 kills, Kavlyn Giacomelli added 11, and the 12th-ranked Saints outlasted the Broncbusters in four sets, 13-25, 25-14, 24-26, 19-25 at Conestoga Arena.
"Our momentum was totally stolen from us, and we still almost came back and won," Head Coach, Patrick Hiltz said.
Hiltz got his money's worth in this one when he argued a net violation late in the critical third set. Hannah Brandt legally reached over to block an attack. But the official stopped play and awarded the point to Seward. An incensed Hiltz protested the call and was issued a red card.
"When you're playing against the officials, it's really hard to win," Hiltz added. "Give Seward all the credit because they played hard. But we did enough to win, and we had it taken away from us."
After dropping the opening set, a game in which Seward closed by scoring the final eight points, the Broncbusters came out on fire in the second. Apolline Lepuissant's block capped off a 13-3 run that had Garden City ahead, 16-6. Tola Maczka crushed a kill, Hannah Brandt sent a fastball down the right sideline, and Seward was called for a net violation, evening the match, 1-1.
That's when things got interesting.
Garden City dominated the early stages of the third set building a 14-6 edge once Kate Perryman set up Lepuissant for a kill. But the Saints rallied back and eventually took the lead, thanks to a 16-8 surge that put the visitors in front 19-18. The Broncbusters though answered back and reached set point after Fiona Arnold rejected a Seward attack. However, the celebration was short lived once Giacomelli's spike split the Broncbuster defense. Arnold then committed an attack error, and Clara Duarte finished off the set with a kill.
"We got some of the nerves out in the first set, and then just settled in and played Broncbuster volleyball," Hiltz said. "We're going to get healthy, and we're going to make some noise in this conference."
Unfortunately, a slew of questionable calls in the third, deflated Garden City in the fourth set. Seward jumped out to a 15-5 lead forcing Hiltz to burn a timeout. But the Broncbusters were resilient all night, pulling within two after Maczka crushed a Garden City attack to make it 18-16. But that's as close as Garden City got the rest of the way as the Saints closed the match by scoring seven of the final 10 points.
Arnold posted 17 kills for Garden City, which dropped to 15-6 overall and 3-3 in conference play. Perryman added nine kills and two blocks.