Seward Wraps Up Regular Season with Loss at Butler

Jay Daubenberger

After a big win on Wednesday to help get momentum back in their favor, the Seward County Lady Saints volleyball team went back out on the road for their final match of the 2023 regular season as they faced conference rival Butler in El Dorado where despite taking the match through a thrilling five-sets, the Lady Saints fell to the Grizzlies 3-2 to end the regular season.

After falling to Butler in a 3-0 sweep at home inside of the Green House, Seward County started the first set the same way they finished off their last contest against the Grizzlies with Butler starting strong with a quick 10-5 lead to start set one. The Lady Saints always remained close however as Rafaela Da Silva found Keala Wilson at the left pin to keep the score within five at 15-10. A few points later Da Silva stepped up to the service line and helped close the gap even more with back-to-back aces to put SCCC four points behind Butler at 18-14. From there the Lady Saints kept crawling back as Winiffer Rodriguez added to the fun at the service line with her own ace to bring the score within two at 23-21, but two quick Grizzlies points followed to end the first set 25-21 and give Butler a 1-0 lead in the match.

Despite falling to the Grizzlies in the first, Seward County held strong to start the second set as they flew in front thanks to a tip over kill by Lajla Rasljanin to give the Lady Saints a 6-2 advantage. Butler did not back down as they managed to tie the score back up at 10 a piece before Dora Filipovic added to the success from the service line as she dropped in another Seward County ace to push back in front 11-10 and later added a big kill to increase that lead to 17-15. A slam down the middle of the net from Marcelina Pyka helped the Lady Saints push further away at 21-18 and soon after Clara Duarte made her presence known with a rocket from the right side to lock up the second 25-23 for Seward County and tie the match 1-1.

Managing to pull together and fight out a second set win the Lady Saints looked like they could pull of the upset over Butler in El Dorado. But the Grizzlies refused to even entertain the thought as they pulled away early with a 12-8 lead that soon after a 9-5 run over Seward County became a 21-13 advantage. From there the Lady Saints could only manage to add one more point to their total as Butler reclaimed the lead in the match at 2-1 after a 25-14 win in the third.

Set four began the same way sets one and three did with the Grizzlies pulling in front but Wilson helped close the gap to one, floating a kill over the net to put the score at 5-4. Seward County did not shy away from the competition as they remained a few points behind through most of the set thanks in part to Filipovic who knocked a kill off the blocker to put the score at 16-14 Butler and eventually the score was knotted back up off a hammer from Rasljanin to tie the score at 20-20. Eventually the Lady Saints regained the momentum and surpassed the Grizzlies 25-22 to force a fifth set for winner take all.

Gas finally ran out in the final set for Seward County as Butler forced an early SCCC timeout with a 4-0 lead the five points later became an 8-1 advantage. From their it was all over with Butler wrapping up the fifth 15-8 and claiming the match 3-2.

The Lady Saints now drop to 13-16 to finish off their regular season in 2023 with a KJCCC record of 5-11 against conference opponents. They will now turn their attention to the #1 seeded Barton when they head back to Great Bend, Kansas to face the Cougars in the first round of the Region VI tournament on Wednesday, November 1^st.