Seward Finishes 4-0 in Lamar

The Seward County Lady Saints finished their weekend strong Saturday afternoon in Lamar, Colorado, drubbing the host Lamar as well as Bethany College’s JV squad in straight sets to finish their opening week of action with a perfect 4-0 record.

Following a day in which they had trouble starting, the Lady Saints certainly didn’t have that problem on Saturday as they took on Lamar, jumping out to an 8-1 lead on a barrage of kills from five different players. Lamar made a push on their home court, cutting the Seward lead to 9-7, but a 4-0 Lady Saints run put them back in control, up 13-7 midway through the set. The Lady Saints remained in control throughout the set, stretching their lead to as many as 10 at 21-11 on an ace from Carolina Gasparini and the gals in green went on to take the first set 25-18 as Gasparini and Megan Sharratt combined for a block to finish things off for the Lady Saints.

The two teams traded points early on in the second set and found themselves deadlocked at 8 after Seward’s third service error in the early part of the set. Lamar made a run as Seward struggled to find their footing and midway through the set it was Lopes 14 and Seward 9. The Lady Saints deficit reached six at 17-11 before they finally got things going. A kill from Taryn Bedore and a pair of kills from Gasparini got the Lady Saints to within one and a tip from Carolina Freitas later on knotted the score at 19. With momentum on their side, the Lady Saints finished with a fury. With Lindsey Schwab at the service line, Seward rolled off five straight points, including three aces from the freshman to close things out to give the Lady Saints a 2-0 lead in the match with a 25-20 win in the second set.

It was Alex Wood coming out of the gates with her hair on fire in the third set for Seward, picking up a block and five kills in the first 12 points of the set to give the gals in green a 9-3 early lead. Seward continued the onslaught of the homestanding Lopes and a pair of blocks from Kristen Anderson and a kill from the lefty later on had the Lady Saints on top 19-8 as they looked for the sweep. Lamar had no answer for Seward down the stretch and the Lady Saints breezed their way to the finish line, picking up a 25-12 win to take the match 3-0.

Wood finished a big match with 9 kills without an error for the Lady Saints on the outside to lead the offense while Sharratt added 8 kills and Bedore another 7. Kristen Anderson led the way with 17 assists for Seward while Kari Anderson paced the team with 11 digs. Schwab finished with 5 aces, including the 3 to close the second set and also topped the Lady Saints with 3 blocks.

SEWARD COUNTY/LAMAR BOX SCORE<http://www.sewardsaints.com/sports/wvball/2014-15/boxscores/20140823_lkih.xml>

After a short rest, the Lady Saints hit the court once again in the afternoon to finish up their tournament schedule. The Lady Saints were across the net from fellow Sunflower State member Bethany College in the finale. Seward quickly took control in the first set, using a big block and a relentless hitting attack to go ahead 12-5 to start the set. Bethany closed the gap to four at 18-14 after a pair of Seward errors, but that was as close as the Lady Saints allowed the Swedes to get as they pushed to the finish line, getting a pair of aces from Friday’s star Thayna Silva and a late kill from Gasparini to finish things off and win 25-16.

The second set was never a contest. The Lady Saints scored 12 of the first 13 points of the set, getting a pair of aces from Bedore and Wood to go up 12-1 before a Bethany timeout. Kills from Bedore and Wood gave Seward a 20-5 lead and Bedore closed out the set with a kill to give the Lady Saints a 25-9 win.

After the teams split the first four points of the third set, a kill from Wood got Seward going and after scoring three straight points, a thunderous kill from Angelina Minor gave the Lady Saints a 6-2 advantage in the set. The Lady Saints continued to build on their lead, getting an ace from Sharratt and a kill from Schwab to put them on top 14-5 midway through the set. Bethany never put up much of a resistance, as the Lady Saints continued to put the pressure on the Swedes to take a double digit lead at 20-10 before going on to win 25-19 on a back to back kill and block from Minor to sweep the set 3-0.

Seward’s offense was spread around in the win as eight different players had multiple kills, led by Before who had 7 for the second straight match. Kristen Anderson led Seward with 16 assists in the victory and Kari Anderson and Silva tied for the team lead with 8 digs. Sharratt had 5 blocks to lead Seward at the net and Silva dished up 3 aces to pace the Lady Saints at the service line.

SEWARD COUNTY/BETHANY JV BOX SCORE<http://www.sewardsaints.com/sports/wvball/2014-15/boxscores/20140823_ly1c.xml>

The Lady Saints finish their weekend a perfect 4-0, one of just two teams in the 11 team tournament to do so. The undefeated weekend marks the first time since the 2011 campaign that the Lady Saints came away from the opening week of play without a loss. Seward will now turn their attention to Jayhawk West play when they travel to conference rival Barton on Wednesday for a 6:30 first serve.