Jay Daubenberger
Seward County kicked off a three-game road stint on Saturday October 19th with a trip out east to Great Bend where the Lady Saints competed against #5 Barton in a matchup between the past two KJCCC regular season champions where the Cougars managed to pull away in each set to sweep SCCC 3-0 on the road.
The two KJCCC rivals competed back and forth to open the first set with Mariana Silva rising high for a pair of emphatic kills to stay within reach before an ace from Lizzy Cisneros evened up the score at 8-8. Despite matching Barton point for point through the first twenty, the Lady Saints found themselves falling behind midway through the set but managed to trim the gap to two as Ana Nikolic slammed home a kill at each pin to make it a 19-17 score. Seward County caught fire early in the set to remain close with the Cougars but ended the set ice cold as Barton advanced their lead with a 6-0 run to end the first with SCCC falling 25-17.
Set two saw Seward County claiming the lead early on as Lajla Rasljanin and Keala Wilson rose up high for a stuff at the net to push ahead while Silva once more struck down a thunderous kill form the opposite pin to make it an 8-6 SCCC lead. This time it was Barton who was trying to play catchup to the Lady Saints who continued to maintain their momentum with Zeynep Olcay Balci connected on a monster swing to lock the score up at 16-16 in the second. The icy winds that caused a freeze over Seward County in set one struck again as the Lady Saints could not find another chance to score while the Cougars stormed back in front on a 9-0 run to claim the second 25-16 and a 2-0 set lead.
Seward County once again pushed ahead in the opening points to begin the third with Silva continuing to add to her stat line with another big kill down the line to put SCCC ahead of Barton 9-7. In a constant back and forth contest in set three, the Cougars and Lady Saints exchanged blows with Barton inching ahead by one before a spike down the center of the net from Marcelina Pyka helped even up things up at 15-15. Silva quickly became a one-woman wrecking crew over the next few scores with a rocket from the pin that led to a pair of aces from the Brazil native who allowed Seward County to stay even with the Cougars at 19-19. Rasljanin put the Lady Saints past the twenty-point mark in the third as SCCC looked to try and force another set in Great Bend but came up short as Barton completed the sweep 25-21 to hand Seward County a 3-0 loss.
The Lady Saints now fall to 8-14 overall on the 2024 season while dropping to 4-8 in Jayhawk Conference action. Seward County will complete their road stint next week beginning with another top ten nationally ranked matchup against Colby at 6:30 PM on Wednesday October 23rd.