Lady Pirates Swept By NEO
September 20, 2018
INDEPENDENCE, Kan. - After being on the road for eight straight matches, the Independence Lady Pirates returned home to host the NEO Lady Norse in the second meeting of the regular season between the two squads.
In the first set, the Lady Pirates opened with a kill from Destiny Thomas to take the lead but back to back kills by NEO gave the Lady Norse a 2-1 lead before a kill by Jessi Lewman tied the set at 2-2. Thomas continued to light it up with kill after kill, but a 5-2 run had NEO up 7-4.
An ace by Kalli Stephens and a kill by Natasha Colon kept Independence in it on a 5-3 run cutting the lead to 10-9. The Lady Norse run was broken up on a kill from Lewman, but a miscommunication made it 13-11 before a kill by Briana Prescott cut the lead to 13-12.
NEO answered with a kill, but Patricia Seller answered with one of her own and back to back errors gave Independence its first lead at 15-14. A 5-0 run regained the lead for the Lady Norse at 19-15, but the Lady Pirates weren't going away as a kill by Colon followed by an error made the score 19-17.
A 3-1 run brought the score to 22-18 in favor of NEO and a kill by Seller cut the lead to three. Independence got momentum off a kill from Kiersten Vincent but dropped the set 20-25.
The second set began with an even run of 2-2 before consecutive errors put NEO ahead 5-2. The Lady Norse went on a run of 3-2 before an error brought Independence within three.
NEO answered with consecutive points but a kill by Seller brought the Lady Pirates back within four before a 2-0 run pushed the Lady Norse lead to 12-6.
A huge kill by Noleyshka Santiago cut the lead down to five but a block made the score 13-7 before a kill and consecutive errors had Independence trailing by nine.
The Lady Pirates capitalized on a few errors from NEO and got kills from Thomas, Seller, Prescott and Colon but a 9-8 run ended the set with Independence falling 17-25 and trailing 0-2 in the match.
In the third set, the Lady Pirates fell behind 0-5 before a kill by Thomas put them on the board. A 3-0 run for the Lady Norse made it 8-1, but once again Thomas attacked cutting into the NEO lead to six.
Kills by Prescott, Lewman and Colon with some errors from NEO had Independence within nine and a kill by Seller made the score 20-12. The Lady Pirates fought back hard on a 6-5 run, but it was just too late of a rally, dropping the set 18-25 and the match 0-3.
The Lady Pirates are now 5-9 and return to conference play Saturday, September 22 on the road against the Pratt Beavers with first serve set for 2 pm.