Seward Knocks Off Butler Despite Hutch Hangover

Coming off of a hard fought, emotional defeat at the hands of their rivals, Hutchinson, Wednesday, Seward County Head Coach Thais Allen had the tough task of trying to rally her troops on Saturday for a match against a struggling 4-23 Butler team on the road in El Dorado. Seward seemed to be going through the motions early on, nipping the Grizzlies 25-21 in the first before Butler took the second 25-20 to even the match at one. After a stern talking to from Allen between sets, the Lady Saints responded with a 25-15 win in the third and a dominating 25-9 win in the fourth to seal the win to make them the first Jayhawk West team to 10 wins this season.

After the long trip to El Dorado and the Power Plant, it took a while for the Lady Saints to get going on Saturday. Seward and Butler were tied at seven early on and remained deadlocked at 12 at the midway point of the first. It continue to be a back and forth affair to 15-15 when Seward made their first real run of the match, getting two straight kills from Megan Sharratt and Alex Wood and then a block from the pair to go in front 18-15. The run seemed to have jolted some energy into the Lady Saints as they extended their lead to five on another Wood kill before watching a Butler attack sail wide to close out the first and give them a 25-21 win.

Seward got off to a dreadful start in the second, falling behind 4-0 right off the bat and saw the Grizzlies lead extend to 7-2 moments later as they tried to find their footing. A kill from Belissa Guidotti followed by a solo stuff from the freshmen got them back on track and before long the Lady Saints had the score tied up at 10. Seward pushed through the middle of the set to take a 14-12 lead on a kill from Wood but a service error gave Butler the ball back and stopped the Lady Saints momentum. Things were still looking ok for the Lady Saints later in the set as they held a two point lead 18-16 but all of a sudden the wheels fell off for Seward. Three straight Seward attack errors gave Butler the lead and after a Grizzly kill and a Lady Saint reception error it was 21-18 Butler. Seward never recovered, committing three errors in the final four points of the set as Butler shocked the Lady Saints with a late comeback to win 25-20. The set win for Butler was its first in Jayhawk West play since September 9th. The Lady Saints committed 10 attack errors in the set, hitting just .025 as a team in the period.

It was another slow start for the Lady Saints in the third as they continued to hand points over to Butler with four errors in the first six points to gift the Grizzlies a 4-2 lead. Thankfully for Seward, Butler was feeling generous as well and without recording a single kill until the 14th point of the set, somehow the Lady Saints managed to go in front 9-5. A kill by Kaysie Paxton followed by one by Wood put Seward in front by six at 12-6 at the midway point of the set. The Lady Saints continued to push, opening up their biggest lead of the day at 18-8 as they took control of the set. A Grizzly kill and back to back Seward errors cut the Lady Saints lead to seven, but that was as close as Butler would get as Seward finished the set strong to take the third 25-15 and go up 2-1 in the match.

The Lady Saints carried their third set momentum right into the fourth, getting a block right out of the gates from Sharratt and Viviane Viana to take the early lead and parlayed that into a 7-2 run to begin the set to hold the early control. Back to back blocks later on in the set from Paxton, Guidotti, and Wood made it 12-4 and the Lady Saints went up double digits on a kill from Lindsey Schwab to make it 15-5. Seward never let up, scoring the next five points to blow their lead open to 20-5 and eventually finished off the Grizzlies 25-9 on a kill by Sharratt to clinch the match 3-1. Seward had their best offensive set in the fourth, hitting .364 as a team while Butler had by far their worst, hitting -.214.

It was a pedestrian effort for the Lady Saints on the stat sheet in the 3-1 win. Seward hit just .155 as a team, again handicapping themselves with 42 total errors in the match. Viana and Wood led Seward with 11 kills each while Amanda Periera recorded a double-double for the Lady Saints with 14 assists and a team best 10 digs in the win. The Lady Saints had 11 blocks in the contest, getting solid production out of their middles with five each from Guidotti and Sharratt.

The Lady Saints become the first Jayhawk West team to 10 wins with the victory, improving their overall record on the season to 21-10 and their conference mark to 10-2. Butler continues a forgettable season, falling to 4-24 overall and 2-10 in league action.

Seward will have their first real break in action of the season this week as they take a seven day hiatus before returning to the court next Saturday on the road at Pratt to take on the Beavers in another 2:00 matinee start.

SEWARD COUNTY/BUTLER BOX SCORE

Roy Allen