Garden City splits season series with Hutch

Hutchinson, KS-Freshman Atlyn Proctor had 13 kills, right-side hitter, Tiana Simmons added nine, and Hutchinson snapped a seven-match losing streak with a three-set victory over Garden City, 27-29, 22-25, 19-25 Monday night at the Sports Arena.  

Julia Brazil recorded 10 kills, and Vitoria Reis added 15 assists for Garden City, which lost for the fourth time in their last five games. They dropped to 10-9 overall and 4-6 in conference. 

The momentum of this match totally shifted in the first set. In a game that saw 14 ties and seven lead changes, the Broncbusters had a 23-22 edge and a chance to make an early statement. But an attack error by Brazil and a kill by McKenzie Murphy, gave the Blue Dragons a one-point advantage. Garden City managed to fight off another set point before back-to-back hitting miscues gave Hutchinson a 1-0 lead.  

Trailing by five in the second frame, the Broncbusters rattled off four straight points to pull to within one. But after a Hutchinson timeout, Proctor hammered home a spike followed by another Broncbuster error, giving the home team a commanding 2-0 advantage.  

Garden City again made things interesting in the third, trimming an eight-point deficit down to two. However, five straight Blue Dragon points, spearheaded by a Proctor kill and a solo block by Precious Johnson put Hutchinson back in control for good.  

Freshman libero, Addy Foster finished with 20 digs for the Blue Dragons, who improved to 13-17 overall and 4-6 in the Jayhawk.  

Vitoria Stedile posted 28 digs for Garden City. Brazil and Reis combined for five aces, and Carly Lang tallied six kills and 12 digs.