Seward County beats Garden City in three sets

By Mike Pilosof

Photo by Adam Shrimplin

Garden City, KS-Patrick Hiltz was clearly frustrated following Monday night's match. And how could you blame him?

Garden City was thoroughly outplayed, losing a three-set decision to 10^th-ranked Seward County 9-25, 16-25, 21-25 at Conestoga Arena.

"We didn't look very excited to play Seward," Hiltz said afterwards. "There was no energy. I don't know what was going on, and I don't know where our energy went."

Right from the start, the Saints, who lost a five-set heartbreaker to Navarro in last year's National Championship Game, dominated. They raced out to a 13-3 lead following Alli Meng's attack error that sailed wide right, stretched that to 14 after a net violation on Garden City; then finished off the set with Ana Brangioni's service ace.

In the second, Reagan Karlin's spike landed a foot past the service line, putting Seward County up 8-2. Later in the frame, Gabriela Badilla fired a ball past Karlin down the left sideline, putting the Saints up 21-11. Once the Broncbusters trimmed the deficit to seven, the Saints scored the final two points of the stanza, capped off by Badilla's crosscourt kill that put the road team on top 2-0.

The Broncbusters did show some fight in the third, nearly erasing a late seven-point deficit thanks to a Karlin kill and a Seward County attack error that punctuated a 6-0 run that pulled Garden City within two, 23-21. But the Saints regained control when Ariana Arciniega sent a kill down the left sideline before Remi Vargas's passing error ended the match.

Karlin finished with seven kills for Garden City, which lost for the third time in their last four matches. Vargas chipped in 15 assists, and Angel Sherman had four blocks.