Lady Pirates Sweep Two NAIA Opponents in Doubleheader To Open Regular Season
August 27, 2017
BARTLESVILLE, Okla. - Over the weekend, the Independence Lady Pirates added two games to open the regular season in a doubleheader against NAIA opponents, the Oklahoma Wesleyan Lady Eagles and the Tabor Blue Jays and in dominating fashion, Independence started off hot and never looked back, pulling out sweeps over both opponents.
"I am very proud of how we performed tonight," coach Daniela Pena said. "I'm extremely proud of my players that came off the bench with everything coming together tonight for us as a team and it was great to be able to get everyone involved."
"Going forward, we face a very tough opponent in Seward County, but at the same time we trust the process and we know that they can do well. No matter who our opponent is, we know that we have to play everyone with the same fire and intensity to have success."
The first match against OKWU began with a kill by Shelymar Diaz to give the Lady Pirates the early lead in the first set. An even run of 2-2 capped by another thunderous kill from Diaz had Independence leading 3-2.
Service errors and other miscues later in the set had the Lady Pirates leading 6-5, but a Lady Eagle kill would tie the match at 6-6. Independence would answer the call on a 5-1 run capped on another Diaz kill to lead 11-7. OKWU was on a 3-1 tear, but a ball hit into the net gave the Lady Pirates 13-10 lead.
Hannia Rios set up a huge kill by Bri Prescott making it 15-14 Lady Pirates and Indy would later go on a run of 3-2 extending their lead to 18-16. The two squads went back and forth but a kill from Jessie Lewman gave the Lady Pirates a 21-18 lead. Independence would close out the first set on a 5-4 run after a ball was knocked into the student section winning 25-22 to take a 1-0 lead.
In the second set, Rios' serves along with assists from Kylie Shanahan were dynamite on a 3-0 run and kills from Lewman and Prescott extended the Lady Pirate's lead to 5-0. Later in the set, Independence went on a 7-1 run but a 3-0 OKWU barrage drew the Lady Eagles within eight points with the Lady Pirates leading 12-4.
Patricia Seller capped a 6-2 run for Independence with a kill making the score 18-6, but there was no quit in OKWU as the Lady Eagles mounted a 4-0 run to give the set a 18-10 Lady Pirate advantage. Later in the set, kills by Rios and Diaz extended the lead to 21-11 as part of a 3-1 run. The Lady Pirates would not be denied as kills by Prescott and Kaitlyn Meyer propelled Independence to a 25-15 win to take a 2-0 lead.
The third set began with an 8-4 run for the Lady Eagles as Independence seemed stunned with miscommunications and hits into the net Later in the set, the Lady Pirates continued to falter as OKWU went on a 7-4 run to extend their lead to 15-8.
A 3-2 run later saw a dynamic kill by Rios bring Independence within seven, but as the set drew on the Lady Eagles continued to get further ahead leading 20-14. The Lady Pirates fought back with kills by Seller and blocks out of bounds from OKWU cutting the Lady Eagles lead to 22-17.
Prescott spiked the ball into the hardwood and Lewman killed the ball to tie it up at 24-24 and a 3-1 run later, the third set comeback was complete as Independence took the set 27-25 and picked up the sweep 3-0.
"These two wins tonight just go to show that even though we are small compared to other schools that we can still compete as long as we continue to play together as a team," said Prescott.
"As long as we continue to be there for each other and focus on the main goal of competition, there is no one that we can't compete against at a high level, continue to be consistent with our serves and play well as a team."
In the second match of the day, the Lady Pirates took on the Tabor Blue Jays looking to improve their season with one more victory to open the regular season.
In the first set, the Lady Pirates drew first blood with a kill by Meyer and an ace by Rios to take the early 2-0 advantage. Anachariz Cruz served an ace followed by a block combo from Seller and Prescott was huge on a 4-1 run to give Independence a 6-2 lead.
Kills by Diaz and Seller played part in a 5-4 run increasing the Lady Pirate's lead to 11-6. Kills from Meyer and Tabor double touches pushed the lead to 14-8 for Independence. A quick knock over from Cruz capped a 3-2 run for the Lady Pirates and the lead was now 17-10.
Independence continued to surge as Tabor knocked the ball to the outside of the antenna capping a 3-0 run for the Lady Pirates, pushing the lead to 20-10. The Lady Pirates capped off a 5-1 run on a kill from Seller to take the set 25-12 and take a 1-0 advantage in the contest.
The second set began on an even run of 5-5 as Independence had huge kills from Prescott and Diaz, but service errors and far pushes would tie it up again before another classic kill from Diaz to push the lead to 7-6 for the Lady Pirates.
Hits into the net continued to play a factor, but another kill from Prescott and a knock over by Cruz off a Blue Jay defender had the score at 12-10 for Independence. Cruz continued to be a factor as part of a 3-1 run bringing the score to 15-11.
The Blue Jays refused to go down easy and answered on a 6-3 run, but Diaz struck with authority to push the score to 19-17. Miscues were an issue as a 3-1 run by Tabor tied it a 20-20 and a 2-1 run later saw the Blue Jays take the lead 22-21.
The Lady Pirates saw huge blocks by Lewman and Prescott tie it at 24-24 and a service error followed by an ace by Cruz saw Independence take the third set 26-24 and take a commanding 2-0 lead.
The third set began with yet another spike of authority from Prescott to draw first blood for Independence, but Tabor wasn't about to go down easy as the Blue Jays mounted a 7-4 run to take command and lead 7-5.
Later in the set, the Lady Pirates were feeling the comeback as Lewman killed the ball ending a 4-3 Tabor run to cut the lead to 11-8. Prescott, still fueled with fire delivered a spike and the lead was down to 14-9 ending another Tabor run of 4-1.
Independence battled back going on a 10-7 run to cut the Blue Jay lead to 21-19, but a service error pushed the lead back to three points at 22-19. Prescott, Cruz and Seller pushed the Lady Pirates to tie it up at 23-23 and take the lead 24-23, but a net ball had the set tied again at 24-24.
The teams battled back and forth but at 26-26 the contest continued into a marathon of events to tie it up at 28-28 and after consecutive spikes into the net, the Lady Pirates prevailed 30-28 in the set and picked up their second sweep of the day.
Next up for the Lady Pirates (2-0) is the home opener Wednesday August 29th against KJCCC Western Conference opponent, the 9th ranked Seward County Lady Saints (2-2) with first serve set for 5:30 pm.