Garden City rolls again

Garden City, KS-Following a 3-0 loss to Colby on Sept. 27, the Broncbusters had finished off a stretch in which they had lost 13 out of their last 14 matches.

Oh how things have changed in two weeks.

Shaney Tiamulu had 12 kills, and Maddie Park added 22 assists, as Garden City took down Pratt in straight sets 25-23, 25-23 and 25-15 Wednesday night at Conestoga Arena. It was their fifth win in their last seven matches.

"We didn't play as well as I would have liked, but a win is a win," Head Coach Jacquelynne Matula said.

One thing is for sure:  Garden City (8-19, 3-7) had to work for this one.

Nine times in the opening frame, Garden City found themselves down by three or more. And facing a 21-16 deficit, things did not look promising.

"I thought we got better as the match went on," Matula said.

The Broncbusters eventually fought their way back, and it was spearheaded by Harlee Davis, who terminated two kills and added a block to make it a two-point match. Abigail Skeeler followed with a cross-court kill and a block to tie the match at 21. The Broncbusters then took the lead when Tiamulu blasted one down the middle before Davis spiked back-to-back kills to give Garden City the opening set.

"As the match went on, we did a better job of being aggressive," Matula explained.

In the second, Pratt (7-24, 2-8) jumped out again before the Broncbusters showed their resiliency. Neither team could pull away from there until late in the set when Garden City stormed back to take a 23-20 advantage. Pratt proceeded to fight off two set points before Davis clubbed a kill to give the brown and gold a 2-0 lead.

"The first two sets, we didn't really take care of business," Matula said. "Harlee got us going. She did some really good things tonight."

After a slow start to the third, Garden City finally put their stamp on the match.

With the set tied at 12, the Broncbusters scored nine of the next 10 points to build an eight-point lead and pull away. On set point, the Beavers pushed a ball out of bounds, giving Garden City their eighth win of the season.

"Harlee did a great job of stepping up and taking a leadership role in this one," Matula said.

Bailey Martinez scooped up 21 digs while Davis totaled three blocks.