Bad News in Borger for Saints

It has been a theme this year for a young Seward County
Lady Saints team that was shown even more Monday night in Borger, Texas
as they took on the Frank Phillips Lady Plainsmen on the road,
inconsistency. Once again Monday, the Lady Saints showed very bright
spots in which they looked like the contender, which they are, at the
top of the Jayhawk West Conference, while there were other spots where
Seward looked capable of being a much lower level team, which was the
end result in a 3-1 loss to 9-18 Frank Phillips.
Seward had a tough time getting things going in the
first set in their first trip to Borger in four seasons. Frank Phillips
jumped out to a 6-2 lead on the Lady Saints and carried an 11-7
advantage to the midway point of the set. Seward then got things
figured out and kills from Annelise Sanchez and Thayna Silva got them to
within one before an error from the Lady Plainsmen tied things at 11. A
sideout from Frank Phillips again put Seward behind and the Lady Saints
were chasing once again. They fell behind by four 18-14 after an attack
error and after getting to within two on an ace from Bailey McFerren to
make it 18-16, managed to score just one of the next six points to fall
behind 23-17. Late kills from Lakeria Eatmon and Silva were not enough
to spark a comeback in the first and the Lady Saints went down 25-19.
In the second the Lady Saints got out to a good start,
taking a 5-1 lead on a trio of blocks from four different players.
Frank Phillips battled back and eventually tied the set at 6 on a Seward
reception error, but the Lady Saints pushed once again and scored seven
straight points thanks to McFerren and Silva to take a 13-6 lead. A
service error stopped the Seward momentum for then, but the Lady Saints
remained in front comfortably until a barrage of attacks from the Frank
Phillips side of the court found the floor on the Lady Saints side to
get them to within three at 16-13. Three straight kills from Eatmon and
Silva made it 19-13 Seward County and a solo block from Morgan Riley put
the Lady Saints up 20-13 and a kill and block from McFerren closed the
deal as the Lady Saints went on to win 25-16. Seward finished the set
with 12 kills and just 1 error, good for a .393 hitting percentage,
their fourth best in any set this season.
Again the Lady Saints looked good to start the third
set, getting kills from Riley and Silva to get things going and a pair
of blocks from Eatmon and Riley to get out to a 4-1 lead. The lead was
short lived though as Frank Phillips stormed back to score eight
straight points to give themselves a 9-4 lead. The Lady Saints worked
back to within one at 10-9 when a block from McFerren and setter
Kourtney Moreland tied it up at 10 and later on they took a one point
lead 12-11 on a kill from Sanchez on the outside. Seward though, could
not maintain the lead for long as another prolonged opponents run, this
time six of the next seven points, put the Lady Saints in a 17-13 hole
and they never recovered. Frank Phillips continued to tack onto their
lead and with a Seward reception error on set point, took home the set
25-17 to take a 2-1 lead in the match. After getting back to back kills
to start the set, the Lady Saints recorded just one kill the rest of the
set and finished with a .000 hitting percentage in the set.
For the third straight set, the Lady Saints started with
a bang in the fourth, getting a block from Riley and Sanchez to start
things and a kill from Riley right behind that to help them out to an
early 5-3 lead. They remained in front by two 8-6 when a cold stretch
hit them once again, allowing the Lady Plainsmen to score four straight
to flip the script and take a two point lead of their own at 10-8.
Seward remained down two at the midway point with the score 14-12 when
Frank Phillips used a 6-0 burst to break the set open, ahead 20-12. The
run proved too much to come back from for the Lady Saints and down 24-18
with the match on the line, they committed their ninth service error of
the night to seal the deal as they fell 25-18 to drop the match 3-1.
Seward had just one player reach double figures in kills
in the defeat as Silva notched 14 kills to go along with 13 digs to
record her seventh double-double on the season. At the net the Lady
Saints had one of their best matches defensively of the season,
recording a season best 15 blocks, including 7 from McFerren, 6 from
Riley, and 4 from Eatmon. Moreland, drawing her first start of the
season, collected a career high 29 assists and narrowly missed her first
double-double with 9 digs to go along with the helpers.
The Lady Saints fall to 13-16 overall on the 2012
campaign and their non-conference record drops to just 6-14 on the year.
They will turn their focus back to a huge date in the Greenhouse
Wednesday night as they host Jayhawk West Conference rival Hutchinson at
6:30 on Black Out Night. The Lady Saints ask all fans to deck
themselves out in black for the match and continue to make the
Greenhouse one of the most intimidating venues in the Jayhawk
Conference. If you would like to purchase an official Black Out t-shirt
for the match, contact any of the Lady Saints players or coaches, or
call the Sports Information Office at 417-1553.