Jay Daubenberger
Seward County kicked off the second half of their 2024 conference schedule with a trip to Concordia to take on the Cloud County T-Birds who the Lady Saints took down to begin Jayhawk action and saw lightning strike twice as they once again took down their opponents with a 3-1 win to head back home to Liberal in the win column.
Set one saw Seward County take a swift lead with Mariana Silva striking down a Lady Saints kill to give her team a two-point lead over the T-Birds who responded to tie the score up before another kill at the pin from Silva and an ace from Keala Wilson made it a 11-7 lead for SCCC. Cloud County responded with a 5-1 run of their own to knot the score back up and take control of the set as they took over the lead 14-12 to force Seward County into their first timeout. The T-Birds grew their lead out to as many as four before Silva once again answered the call to keep her team close while a kill from Ana Nikolic helped tie the score back up at 23-23 before two unanswered points from Cloud sealed the first in their favor 25-23.
Once again, the Lady Saints put their foot on the gas to open up the set thanks to a dominant stuff at the right pin from Lajla Rasljanin and Zeynep Olcay Balci to take a 6-3 lead and just as in the first, the T-Birds came back to tie the score and take a 10-8 lead. This time Seward County responded to calm the storm with a five-point run with Marcelina Pyke spiking a kill down the middle before Wilson raised the rood on Cloud for a solo block to create a 13-10 lead for SCCC. Wilson later combined with Rasljanin at the pin for another big-time block to put the Lady Saints over the twenty-point mark with Silva quickly connecting on a cross court kill to make it a 22-18 score before a rocket ace from Rasljanin and an overpass kill at the net from Wilson locked the match back up at 1-1 with Seward County taking the second 25-18
The third saw a change in the weather as the T-Birds of Cloud County were the ones who grabbed the first lead twenty points into the set to take a 13-9 lead over the Lady Saints. Camden Bizot dropped a dime over to Rasljanin in the middle spot for a big kill to try and trim away at their deficit before Silva and Wilson combine for back-to-back kills to help even the score back up at 18-18. After finding their groove on offense the Lady Saints managed to capitalize on multiple errors from the T-Birds before Rasljanin and Olcay Balci once again silenced the crowd with an emphatic block to wrap up the third 25-22 to take a 2-1 set lead for SCCC.
Seward County and Cloud County exchanged blows through the first part of set number four with Silva knocking a kill off the block and Pyka putting another SCCC score in between three T-Bird players to take over an 11-10 lead. Soon after however Cloud County took over the lead with a 19-16 deficit for the Lady Saints who answered with Wilson scoring back-to-back scores off a block and then a kill from the right side to lock the score back up at 19-19. Silva continued to take care of business as she rose up for her final kill of the match to retake the lead for Seward County before Olcay Balci helped finish things off with a kill down the middle to make it a 25-21 final score in set four and 3-1 win for the Lady Saints.
Seward County now improves to 7-12 overall on the 2024 season and move up in the KJCCC standings with a 3-6 conference record. The Lady Saints will remain on the road to finish the week as they head to El Dorado on Saturday to face the Butler Grizzlies at the Power Plant for a 2:00 PM matchup on October 12th.