Seward Volleyball Loses at Pratt

Jay Daubenberger

For the first time in September, Seward County packed their bags and hit the road for their first road game in three weeks with the Lady Saints traveling to the Beaverdome to face the Pratt Beavers where despite a career-high 18 kill performance from Mariana Silva and a near double-double from Lajla Rasljanin of 9 kills and 9 blocks, SCCC fell short in a 3-1 loss to the Beavers.

Seward County exchanged blows through the first twenty points of set one to remain close to Pratt on the score board as Camden Bizot connected with Marcelina Pyka in the middle of the net to keep the Beaver’s lead at two with a 12-10 score. Pratt began to pull away with a short run but were halted in their tracks by Silva who rose up for an emphatic kill before Rasljanin added on with a rocket down the middle plus a solo stuff at the net to keep the Lady Saints in reach as they trimmed the gap to five at 22-17. Despite their best efforts to climb back in the first with a few more kills at the pin from Silva, Seward County dropped set one 25-21 with Pratt grabbing a 1-0 set lead.

Set two started with the Beavers charging ahead with a swift lead to carry over their momentum from the first with the Lady Saints chasing from behind the entire set and trying to rally together with a kill from the right side by Keala Wilson igniting a spark for SCCC. Pratt scored three straight points to increase their lead out to 19-12 and force Seward County into a timeout with the Lady Saints needing to find some answers for their Beaver problem. Their answer came in the form of a monster spike from Pyka in the middle followed by some trickery from Meloni Miller who dumped off another kill to decrease the deficit to 21-19 but once again came up a few points short with Pratt using a 4-1 run to grab the second set 25-22.

After falling a few points short in the first two sets, Seward County started the third with an offensive rampage led by a pair of kills from Silva and another monster spike through the heart of a Beaver defender from Rasljanin to grow out a 17-8 lead over Pratt. Miller stepped in at the setter spot once again and found Wilson at the pin for a kill of her own before dialing up Silva once again to put SCCC in set point. That final point of set three came moments later with Rasljanin rising up with both hands to stuff the Beavers at the net with a solo block to clinch set three in favor of Seward County to make it a 2-1 game in the Beaverdome.

With momentum on their side heading into the fourth it was the Lady Saints and Beavers exchanging point for point to begin the set with Rasljanin and Wilson combing at the pin for a block to keep within one as Pratt led 12-11. Zeynip Olcay Balci stepped up when Seward County needed her most with a big kill down the line before Silva flew through the air and hammered home one final kill for her stat line before the Beavers began to build their lead. Soon afterwards Pratt claimed the fourth set 25-17 as well as the match 3-1 to hand the Lady Saints their third consecutive loss.

Seward County now falls to 5-10 on the 2024 season with a Jayhawk conference record of 2-4. The Lady Saints will remain on the road this week with a 6:30 PM matchup on Saturday in Dodge City to take on the Conquistadors before returning back home the following Monday to face Lamar inside of the Green House.