Broncbusters give Hutch a fight; fall in four sets

Garden City, KS-Give Patrick Hiltz's team a lot of credit because, down arguably their best player for most of the night, and after getting dominated in the first set, Garden City gave themselves a chance. 

Tainya Golden had a team-best 20 kills, Alondra Velez added 21 digs, and second-place Hutchinson topped the Broncbusters in four sets, 12-25, 25-17, 20-25, 22-25 Wednesday at Conestoga Arena. The loss dropped the Broncbusters to 13-8 overall and 3-4 in conference play. 

Apolline Lepuissant posted a double-double in the loss for Garden City with 12 kills and 13 digs. Vitoria Stedile had 25 digs, and Tola Maczka posted 37 assists. 

The Broncbusters appeared a bit off balance in the opening set. The Blue Dragons pushed out to a 13-4 advantage before Hiltz called a timeout. After the stoppage, Ashlyn Long blocked a Garden City attack, Julia Brazil committed an attack error, and Alejandra Briseno dropped in a service ace, capping off a 10-0 run that put Hutchinson up 17-5. They won the first frame by 13. 

Garden City responded resoundingly in the second. Carly Lang sent a line drive spike cross court, and Golden committed an attack error giving the Broncbusters a 14-6 lead. Later in the set, Lepuissant sent an attack through the Blue Dragon block. Then, once Hutchinson trimmed the lead to five, the Broncbusters scored the final three points capped by Pinar Dugeroglu's ace that evened the match, 1-1.  

"We needed a little inspiration in that set, and we put Jelena (Milovanovic) in there," Hiltz said. "It was what we needed."  

Milovanovic, who has missed the last couple of weeks with a hand injury, played just two sets. But her impact definitely resonated down the stretch. 

And Garden City had their chances in the third. They were up three early and then were in a 17-17 deadlock before the Blue Dragons closed on an 8-3 run to go up, 2-1. In the fourth, Hiltz's squad showed resilience, storming back from a 10-3 deficit to tie it at 21 following Maczka's tremendous dig and Lepuissant's kill. But as was the case in the third, the Blue Dragons had just enough to finish off Garden City, scoring four of the final five points to win it. 

Giovanna Ravanhani totaled 41 assists for Hutchinson, which improved to 3-2 in their last five matches.