Lady Pirates Pick Up First Conference Win Over Garden City
September 5, 2018
INDEPENDENCE, Kan. - Coming off a rough start in conference play, the Lady Pirates were poised for their next opponent as the Garden City Broncbusters visited the ICC Field House. The two teams battled head to head the entire match and when it was all over Independence picked up its first win in conference play.
"Tonight, we started out too relaxed and a little nervous," coach Daniela Pena said. "It took us a little bit to adjust but when we did we were able to win because of the intensity of the plays."
"We started playing better and diving to connect on delivery to score points, but we need to continue to come out mentally stronger as we did in the last three sets to continue to have success this season."
In the first set, Independence fell behind early, 4-0 but a push over the net by Hannia Rios put the Lady Pirates on the board. A 3-0 Garden City run came to an end after a kill from Destiny Thomas cut the score to 7-2.
"Picking up the win tonight felt great," said Thomas. "We have a lot of potential left to show as the season progresses and I'm so happy to get to play here with this team."
"We know that there is competition ahead this weekend and if we bring it all to the table then it'll show out there on the court."
The Busters went on a 2-0 run but a kill by Jessie Lewman followed by a serve into the net brought the score to 9-4. Shortly after Independence went on a 2-1 run, but an error pushed the Busters lead to 11-6 and a 4-2 run capped by consecutive blocks from Thomas made it 13-10.
A kill by Kiersten Vincent on the next serve brought Independence within two, trailing 13-11 and a 2-1 run cut the score to 14-13, but a 4-1 run from the Broncs pushed the score to 18-14 before another kill from Vincent brought the Lady Pirates within three points.
A 3-2 run was broken on an error and kill from Thomas followed by two consecutive kills from Briana Prescott cutting the lead for Garden City down to 21-20. The teams exchanged blows and Thomas was on the attack again and a knock over from Natasha Colon tied it at 22-22. Errors were in tact as we remained tied at 23-23, but a 2-0 run gave the Busters the first set, 25-23 and a 1-0 lead.
The second set began with a 4-1 Garden City run, but a powerful kill from Prescott cut the score down to 4-2. The two teams exchanged errors and a ball hit into the net cut the score to 5-4. A run of 4-2 pushed the lead to 9-6 and an aggressive kill by the Busters pushed the lead to four points.
A 3-2 run had the score at 13-8 and a combo block from Prescott and Thomas inched Independence even closer. A 3-0 run for the Lady Pirates cut the lead down to 13-12 followed by a 2-2 even run made it 15-14 and the teams continued to exchange blows back and forth on errors bringing the score to 17-16.
Noleyshka Santiago went airborne as the kill was batted back out of bounds but a service error and a big block later from Thomas followed by a ball into the net gave Independence their first lead at 19-18.
A 2-1 run capped by a dynamic kill from Santiago pushed the Lady Pirates to a 21-19 lead, before Thomas broke up a 2-1 run and a service error pushed the Indy lead to 22-21. The Lady Pirates capped a 3-1 run with two more huge kills from Santiago to win the set 25-22, tying the match at 1-1.
In the third set, the teams would exchange errors but a kill from Santiago gave Independence a 3-1 lead. Santiago was on attack again as part of a 2-1 run capped by an ace and kill from Shelymar Diaz pushing the lead to 5-2.
A 3-3 even run pushed the lead to 8-5 thanks to Kylie Shanahan setting up Alessia Laghi for the kill and on a 3-2 run later, Laghi delivered another kill pushing the score to 11-9 for the Lady Pirates.
Garden City went on a 3-0 run to tie the set at 12-12 but an error followed by yet another kill from Thomas extended the lead to 14-12. Thomas and Santiago continued to deliver, pushing the score out to 17-14, but two consecutive long balls brought the Busters within one.
Diaz delivered a kill pushing the lead to 18-16, but miscues would bring the match to a tie a at 18-18 and two consecutive blocks put Garden City in front 20-18 before a Santiago delivery and a long return tied the set at 20-20.
On the return, the Busters knocked the ball into the net and the Lady Pirates were back in front 21-20. A Diaz kill, and a long ball extended the lead to 23-20 for Independence and a 2-1 run gave the Lady Pirates a 25-20 set victory and a 2-1 match lead.
The fourth set began with three consecutive errors followed by a Lewman block to put Independence up 4-0. An error from the Busters and an ace from Diaz extended the Lady Pirates' lead to 6-0 and a kill by Santiago pushed the lead to seven points.
A 4-4 even run had Independence leading 11-5 and a 3-1 run extended the lead to 14-6. Anachariz Cruz set up Lewman for a kill on a 2-0 cap and a 3-1 run capped an ace from Rios had the Lady Pirates surging 19-7.
Consecutive errors and anther Rios ace pushed the lead to 22-7, but consecutive blocks from Garden City brought the score to 22-9. Two consecutive aces from Diaz and a Prescott kill later wrapped up the set for Independence 25-9 and gave the Lady Pirates the 3-1 victory.
Independence improved to 3-2 and 1-2 in conference. Next up for the Lady Pirates is the Coffeyville Tournament on Friday and Saturday. The Lady Pirates will face the MCC-Longview Wolves at 5pm and the Coffeyville Red Ravens at 7pm Friday. On Saturday, Independence takes on the NEO Lady Norse at 5 pm and Neosho County Panthers at 7 pm.