Silva and Gasparini Lift Seward to 2-0 Day in Garden City

After watching their team struggle to four losses in their previous five matches, Seward County sophomores Thayna Silva and Carolina Gasparini put the Lady Saints on their back Saturday afternoon in Garden City, combining for 39 kills in a pair of sweeps as the gals in green breezed past Garden City and Frank Phillips in two 3-0 wins to improve to 8-4 on the early season.

The Lady Saints first match of the day was a Jayhawk West matinee tilt against the host Broncbusters. Seward got off to a slow start, falling behind 7-6 to the Busters before coming back to tie things at 10 as the set crept towards the midway point. Following a timeout, Seward got things going. The Lady Saints took the lead on a solo block from Thayna Silva to take the lead and Seward went on to score nine of the next 10 points with a heavy dose of Silva and fellow outside Carolina Gasparini to blow the set open 19-11. Garden finally broke the Seward momentum with a sideout, but a service error gave the Lady Saints the ball back and the gals in green used back to back Buster hitting errors to finish the set out to win 25-14.

Seward was sloppy again to begin the second set and just like in the first, the two teams were tied at six 12 points into things. Seward and Garden went back and forth to 9-9 when a kill from Alex Wood spurred a 5-2 run for the Lady Saints to give them a 14-11 lead at the halfway point of the set. The Lady Saints continued to hold the lead through the middle of the set, but after back to back Seward errors, Garden had the margin down to just 19-17. A kill from Silva and another from Gasparini moments later had the Lady Saints back on track and up 22-18 and the teams traded points to the end of the set as Seward held on to win 25-21 to take a 2-0 lead.

For the third straight set, it was 6-6 between the Lady Saints and Lady Busters at the 12 point mark. A kill from Gasparini put Seward in front and after a Lady Saints service error, Seward rolled off six straight points to open up their lead to 13-7. The Lady Saints struggled through the middle part of the set and Garden stormed all the way back to within one after a Seward service error and tied it with a kill on an overpass on the next play to make it 15-15. A kill from Megan Sharratt in the middle and a shoot set to the outside to Silva for a kill put the Lady Saints up by two and the Lady Saints pushed their lead to 24-17 and match point after a rash of errors on the Busters side of the net. Two Seward hitting errors and a ball handling error gave Garden a glimmer of hope, but a serve into the net by the Busters sealed their fate and Seward took home the win 25-20 to sweep the match 3-0.

Nearly all of the Lady Saints offense came off the right arms of Silva and Gasparini. The pair combined for 20 of the 30 kills for Seward in the match, a team high 12 for Silva and 8 for the reigning Jayhawk West Freshman of the Year Gasparini. No other Seward player had more than 3 kills in the victory. Nacole Miller had a team best 13 assists for the Lady Saints while Silva had the most digs for Seward with 13 as well. The Lady Saints had 5 blocks as a team, led by 3 from Carolina Freitas and 2 a piece from Sharratt and Lindsey Schwab.

SEWARD COUNTY/GARDEN CITY BOX SCORE<http://www.sewardsaints.com/sports/wvball/2014-15/boxscores/20140906_8efi.xml>

One week after being knocked off by Frank Phillips in Vernon, Texas, the Lady Saints looked like they had revenge on their mind early on in the two teams rematch Saturday in Garden City. The Lady Saints came out on fire, picking up kills on four straight plays, three of them from Silva to take an early 7-2 lead on the Lady Plainsmen. Then it was Gasparini’s turn, picking up three kills of her own to keep Seward’s comfortable margin of five at 12-7 midway through the first. Frank Phillips self-destructed from there as the Lady Saints earned just one point of their own while watching their lead balloon to 22-11. An ace from Taryn Bedore and a kill from Silva put Seward on the doorstep of the set win and a Frank Phillips attack error gave the Lady Saints a convincing 25-11 victory to go up 1-0.

The Lady Saints got off to another good start in the second, taking a 7-3 lead out of the gates and stretching it to 13-7 on a blast crosscourt from Wood. Seward looked like they could put it in cruise control as they went back up six 17-11 on a block from Freitas and Gasparini, but that cruise control might have been clicked on just a little bit early as six Lady Saint errors allowed the Lady Plainsmen back into the set as Seward’s lead shrunk to 21-19 and then disappeared completely after two straight Frank Phillips kills to tie the score at 21. The teams traded points to 24-24 when an ace from Wood put Seward up 25-24. The Lady Saints couldn’t close it out on their first chance and failed again after a well-placed dump from Miller gave them a second chance at 26-25, but the third time was a charm as Sharratt and Kristen Anderson combined for a block on the outside to close Frank Phillips out 28-26 to give the Lady Saints the set and a commanding 2-0 lead in the match.

Seward fell behind 4-0 quickly in the third, but recovered to score nine of the next 10 points to regain their footing and take a 9-5 lead. Frank Phillips drew back even at 9-9 with four quick points, but the Lady Saints made another push through the middle of the set to retake a four point, 15-11 lead after a Lady Plainsmen service error. Two Gasparini kills extended the Lady Saints lead to six and the gals in green finished the set strong, getting a pair of kills from Kristen Anderson to finish things off and take the set 25-16 to sweep the match 3-0.

Silva and Gasparini once again paced the Seward offense, combining for 19 kills, 10 for Silva and 9 for Gasparini, while Freitas and Sharratt each had 6 kills in the middle. Miller again led Seward with 20 assists while Bedore had 10 for the Lady Saints. Wood had 3 of Seward’s 6 aces in the match and also had 11 digs in the win. Kari Anderson had a team high 16 digs for Seward while Silva had 13 pickups, which going along with her 10 kills gave her her third straight double-double.

SEWARD COUNTY/FRANK PHILLIPS BOX SCORE<http://www.sewardsaints.com/sports/wvball/2014-15/boxscores/20140906_ylgx.xml>

The Lady Saints get back to their winning ways, improving to 8-4 overall and 2-1 in Jayhawk West Conference play with the two victories. After 12 straight matches on the road to open their season, Seward will finally get to play in the friendly confines of the Greenhouse on Wednesday as they welcome the Dodge City Conquistadors to Liberal for a 6:30 first serve.