Seward Volleyball Advances to Region 6 Final Four

With the Seward County Lady Saints 3-0 win over Dodge City in the Greenhouse Wednesday night, the stage is now set in Hutchinson as the top four teams all season long in the Jayhawk Conference will battle it out for a Region VI Championship on Sunday with a birth to the NJCAA National Tournament on the line.

Taking on Dodge City for the third time this season, the Lady Saints got off to a good start, jumping ahead of the Conqs 11-6 early on in the first set. Seward setter Amanda Pereira spoon fed outside hitter Kaysie Paxton the ball in the middle of the set and Paxton took advantage with four kills in six points to stretch the Lady Saints lead to 15-10 midway through. Dodge hung around though and had the Lady Saints lead down to just three late at 23-20 after a Seward service error hooked wide. A kill by Belissa Guidotti in the middle gave Seward set point and they were gifted the final point on a Dodge serve long to seal the first set victory 25-22.

Seward got off to a slow start in the second as Dodge City jumped out to a 7-4 lead to get things going. Seward eventually came back to knot the score at 10 before taking a lead at 17-14 on an ace followed by a kill from Maritza Mesa. The Lady Saints opened up a five point lead late in the set before back to back errors allowed the Conqs back in. However, Guidotti came up big with a kill on the 10 foot line to put the nail in Dodge’s coffin in the second and give the Lady Saints a 25-22 win to take a 2-0 lead into the intermission. Seward finished with 19 kills in the 25 point set, hitting .325 in the process.

The Lady Saints were again sloppy early on in the third and found themselves in another dogfight with the Conqs midway through with Seward holding a slight one point lead at 13-12. Tied at 18 later on, Pereira scored on a power tip to put Seward up one and down the stretch Pereira found the hands of Paxton twice and Guidotti once for kills to finish off a 25-20 win for Seward to sweep the match 3-0.

Seward hit .300 in the match, getting 50 total kills in the three setter. Pereira put together another solid stat line with 36 assists, 14 digs, seven kills, and three blocks to lead the way for the Lady Saints. Paxton picked a nice time for her top offensive output of her career in her final home game, finishing with a career high 14 kills on 33 swings.

The Lady Saints improve to 24-9 on the year with the win while Dodge ends their season at 21-16. In the victory, Seward County Head Coach Thais Allen earns her 50th career win, becoming the fourth coach in school history to earn 50 wins before the end of her second season.

Seward advances to the Region VI Final Four for the second straight season where they will take on a familiar foe in Colby at 4:00 Sunday afternoon in Hutchinson. The winner of that match will take on the winner of the Hutchinson/Barton match earlier in the afternoon in the Region VI Championship at 6:00.

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Roy Allen