Seward Steamrolls Pratt

On the heels of their longest idle stretch of the season, the Seward County Lady Saints didn’t miss a beat Wednesday night in the Greenhouse, easily defeating Pratt 3-0 to improve to 18-9 overall on the season.

The Lady Saints got off to a hot start Wednesday night in front of their home crowd and never looked back against visiting Pratt. On the first point of the match Seward got a big block on the right side by Kaysie Paxton and Belissa Guidotti to get the momentum flowing and they parlayed that into a 12-4 start to take a stranglehold on the first set. Back to back kills later in the set by Maritza Mesa kept the Lady Saints ahead by eight and a Pratt attack error followed by an ace from Daimond Aguinaldo made it a 10 point Seward advantage at 20-10. The Lady Saints finished the set strong, getting a cross court smash from Mariana Nascimento to seal it, giving them a 25-14 win in the first to take a 1-0 lead in the match. Seward was efficient offensively, hitting .440 as a team with 13 kills and just two errors in the period.

Seward switched their rotation around in the second and the Beavers took advantage, hanging around early on to the tune of just a three point Lady Saints lead midway through the set. Pratt eventually cut the Seward lead to just one at 14-13, but a 4-1 push for the Lady Saints, wrapped up with an ace from Kimberly Diaz, stretched the Seward lead back to four at 18-14. It remained a tight set until late when Paxton caught fire for the Lady Saints, banging home kills on three balls in a four point stretch, widening the gap for Seward to six at 23-17. Needing just two points to close late, the Lady Saints went to Mesa for her eighth kill of the night and then used an Aguinaldo float serve for an ace to wrap up the set 25-19 to go ahead 2-0 in the match. After a near error free first set offensively, Seward struggled in the second, hitting just .176 as a squad, hampered by six attack errors in 34 swings.

Pratt came out with the first two points of the third set, but from there on, it was all green and white. A sideout by Seward got the Lady Saints on track and with Diaz at the service line, the Lady Saints went on a 5-0 run highlighted by three aces from the sophomore. Seward continued to lead by three, but couldn’t put the Beavers away by the midpoint. However, with the score 17-14, the Lady Saints stepped on the gas for the final time on the night, finishing the third on an 8-1 run, putting the pesky Beavers away 25-15 to wrap up the 3-0 sweep.

It was a workman like effort for the Lady Saints who hit .362 in the match. Nascimento finished the night with 10 kills on 13 swings, good for an astronomical .769 hitting percentage. Mesa led Seward with 14 kills while Paxton chipped in eight for the gals in green. Defensive specialists Diaz and Aguinaldo combined for six Seward aces in the win while Guidotti was in on three of the Lady Saints five blocks in the win.

The Lady Saints remain one game back from the top spot in the Jayhawk Conference with the victory, improving to 18-9 overall and 9-2 in conference action where they continue to chase Colby who is 10-1. Pratt’s struggles continue as they drop their 22nd match in 24 outings to fall to 7-22 overall on the year and 1-10 in West play.

Next up for the Lady Saints is a road trip to Garden City on Saturday where they will take on the Broncbusters in a 2:00 matinee affair in the Perryman Center.

SEWARD COUNTY/PRATT BOX SCORE<http://www.sewardsaints.com/sports/wvball/2016-17/boxscores/20161012_9v0a.xml>

Roy Allen